American impressionist landscapist and lover of nature born today, July 8.
Best known as a landscapist and a keen lover of nature, John Ottis Adams was an American Impressionist painter who studied in Germany.
He was an important member of the Hoosier Group and, along with artists William Forsyth and Theodore Steele, was committed to depicting his own native region of Indiana. Adams' paintings also include scenes from Michigan's lakes, where he often spent his summers, and scenes from Florida where he spent his winters.
He excelled at capturing elusive qualities of light and reflections, as depicted here in his famous “Iridescence of a Shallow Stream” (1902). In this oil painting he recreates the illusion of light dancing across the surface of the stream by applying pure, unblended colors in short brushstrokes.
He also recreated a beautiful and transient field of poppies in his work “In Poppyland” (1901), another of his most famous and well-liked paintings.
