Sailboats on Reed's Lake

Typical of the genre, Sailboats on Reeds Lake portrays an idyllic scene with several boats occupying a bay of this picturesque area. The intimate scale of the work makes it a perfect candidate for having been painted en plein air on the lakeshore during a summer afternoon. Alten suggests the light of the season through the application of paint and his palette. Applied so thinly in some areas that patches of primed canvas show through but dabbed on in robust impasto brushstrokes in others, the paint physically catches light and creates shadows across the surface of the canvas. The sails and their almost unnaturally bright reflections, particularly of the foremost boat, rush the picture plane, demanding attention. Pale, mid-summer colors predominate, which Alten achieved by mixing almost every hue with varying amounts of pure white paint; even the darkest shadows belie not a hint of black. With sensitivity and a deft touch that reflects its impressionist lineage, Alten’s painting captures the warmth and languor of an afternoon by the lake.