William H. Lippincott (1849-1920)
Summer Afternoon, Morris, Connecticut, 1885
Watercolor on paper, 14 x 20”
Signed and dated lower right

A New Yorker, who had become a skilled genre painter during a stay in France, Lippincott spent a summer in Morris, near Litchfield. Artists had been visiting the Connecticut countryside for some time, alone, with family, or a friend or two. Art colonies were yet to be established here.

These women are enjoying the recreational pursuits recommended for them in late 19th-century America. Watercolor painting was at the height of its appeal, both for professionals and hobbyists. Books continued to be seen as uplifting. As technological advances and an immigrant labor pool made it easier to run a household, leisure became a reality for the middle classes.