Albert Herter (1871-1950)

"Albert Herter, a painter of the Aesthetic Movement, takes a neutral position in his depiction of a family of women in his Family Group...Charmed by the exoticism of fifteenth-century primitive paintings and tapestries, Herter produced furniture and tapestries in addition to paintings, and the flat, abstract style of his painting may reflect his affinity for two-dimensional decoration. In The Family Group, the landscape setting, with its tree trunks and blanket of red blossoms, suggests the pattern of a woven textile. The five female figures are decoratively aligned and emotionally detached. The effect is of a tableau, a scene frozen in a timeless space." (E.M. Foshay, "The Cosmopolitan Perspective" in An American Odyssey: The Warner Collection of American Fine and Decorative Arts, Gulf States Paper Corporation, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, New York, 2001, p. 138)