George Sotter Mark

by Dr. Lori Verderame

Born in Pittsburgh in 1879, George William Sotter painted the rivers, roads, and mills of that city as a young man. He came to Holicong, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the early years of the 1900s. He discovered Holicong in 1902, yet he did not move there permanently until 1919. He produced some of the most impressive landscapes of the school of Pennsylvania Impressionism with his teacher, Edward Redfield.

Bucks County painter

George Sotter lived in Holicong, Pennsylvania, near the artist colony of New Hope in a converted 19th Century stone barn. From this Holicong studio, Sotter contributed to the Pennsylvania Impressionist school of American painting and made his mark on American art. He produced, with his partner J. Horace Rudy and his wife/assistant, Alice Bennett Sotter, hand painted and stained glass windows that remain in cathedrals, churches, and monasteries throughout the country today.

George Sotter signatureGeorge Sotter developed into a well-known landscape painter and designer of stained-glass windows. Sotter was especially regarded for his winter scenes in moonlight and his landscapes with cloud-filled skies. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In the summer of 1902, Sotter studied with Edward Redfield.

Stained glass artist

Sotter returned to Pittsburgh to work as a partner in the stained glass studio of J. Horace Rudy and to teach as an Assistant Professor of Painting and Design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Sotter relocated to Holicong, Bucks County, PA permanently in 1919 and brought his expertise in stained glass with him. He accepted commissions for stained glass windows from churches and monasteries all around the country, and developed a staffed operation that fabricated his famous designs.

Museum collections

Sotter’s stained glass is included in the collection of the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton, NJ. His paintings are included in various museum collections including The Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA, the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA, CIGNA Museum and Art Collection in Philadelphia, PA, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, PA.

Since the 1990s, Sotter’s work has enjoyed critical and market acclaim with his original paintings selling regularly for between $50,000 and $250,000.

Get an online appraisal of your George Sotter work of art from Dr. Lori.