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Bucks County origins Bucks County was one of three original counties of Pennsylvania established by William Penn in November 1682. The county's name derived from the name Buckinghamshire, the county in England where Penn's family lived for generations.
Delaware River looking south The earliest inhabitants of Bucks County were the Lenni Lenape Indians. They lived mostly along the Delaware River and the Neshaminy Creek. The white settlers favored development of communities along the Delaware River and as such, New Hope, PA became an industrial center consisting of mills and farms. Farming was the primary occupation of most county inhabitants with mills established along the creeks and streams to grind grain or provide lumber to the growing society.
Most of Bucks County's roads were dotted with inns, taverns, and other places to take rest in order to serve travelers enroute to and from New York and Philadelphia. These establishments were always welcomed stops for farmers as they traveled to Philadelphia's markets and butcher shops.
One of the areas best known artists was Edward Redfield who lived in Centre Bridge. Redfield painted many lovely scenes of the area. The Centre Bridge Inn is an example of the beautiful sites that sparked Redfield's creativity.
Centre Bridge Inn on the edge Daniel Garber resided within Solebury near the Cuttalossa Creek of New Hope and painted in a tonalist style similar to that of expatriate artist, J.A.M. Whistler. Although history has placed Garber within the context of Pennsylvania Impressionism, his work remains grounded in the ethereal style of the Tonalists.
The Modernists led by artists working from the art enclave of West Mechanic Street in New Hope, were fed up with the conservativism of the Impressionists and Phillips Mills' juries. They decided, in 1930 to boycott the annual Phillips Mill art exhibition and they scheduled their own independent art show. This show premiered one day prior to the opening of the annual Phillips Mill show in mid May. The modern artists working in New Hope included such masters as: Lloyd (Bill) Ney, Adolph Blondheim, Charles Evans, Peter Keenan, Ralston Crawford, Charles F. Ramsey, B.J.O. Nordfeldt, Charles Rosen, Louis Stone, Elsie Driggs, and Lee Gatch. While the Precisionist painter and well known American modernist, Charles Sheeler lived in nearby Doylestown, he did not have a close association with the New Hope Modernists.
Riegelsville Bridge, The bridges at New Hope, Riegelsville, and Easton and at other sites along the Delaware, provided subject matter for painters and photographers for decades. Artists including WPA photographer Walker Evans, New Hope Impressionist John Folinsbee and modernist Charles Ramsey have all addressed these bridges as subjects for works of art. |
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