George Hetzel
The nineteenth century Pennsylvania artist George Hetzel immigrated to America with his parents in the 1830′s from their home in France’s Alsace region. The Hetzel’s ultimately settled in western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh where George was raised. As a young adult George traveled to Germany to study painting at the Dusseldorf Academy, where he was influenced by the work of Asher Durand and others. As a mature artist back in Pennsylvania, Hetzel founded a group of artists later known as the Scalp Level school, named for their mountain retreat in a particularly beautiful area near Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Scalp Level works are characterized by a dark moodiness, often of a stream flowing through a woods or other wooded landscapes with trails, glades and towering trees.
At first Hetzel’s paintings were predominently precise landscapes. After about 1870 his brushwork began to loosen up, and his style grew toward a tonalist aesthetic by the end of the century.
Reference note by p4A.com editorial staff, 05.09.