Summer at Caspe Peninsula, 1939, Oil on canvas, 24 x 30", Signed PRICE ON REQUEST | VIEW LARGER IMAGE PROVENANCE "[Mr. Ponsen] brings to his art the serious solidity of a Dutch Conception." Throughout his career, critics favored him with positive commentary, such as Irwin St. John, critic for the Chicago Herald & Examiner, who stated that Ponsen "builds his foundations deep and true, and on them erects his painting - even though it be of a subject as transitory as a clouds or a sail flapping in the wind - with careful methodical structure, until the passing moment he has seized upon stand fixed for all time. This man takes what we used to call modernism, gets the good out of it, and makes it glorious." Ponsen spent spring and summer months in a number of Atlantic coast destinations popular with American plein-air painters. In 1939, he traveled to the Gaspe Peninsula in Canada to capture the timeless wharves, boats, fisherman, and townships. "Low Tide at Gaspe Peninsula" was one of several works done during the fifth extended trip he took (up to that point) to seek new and fresh locations for his paintings. Ponsen remarked about depicting the sea scenes, "Wharfing and shipping seem to have a special fascination for the artist whose fishing boats riding at anchor look easily capable of sailing away to the fishing grounds and the day's haul." While Ponsen's works are mostly associated with the impressionistic school, his careful use of bold color and sweeping brushstrokes are often reminiscent of another prestigious Dutch artist, Vincent Van Gogh. Tunis Ponsen is best known for his use of urban scenes, country landscapes, and harbor scenes. A critic once said "What we do know about Ponsen helps us to understand the distance he places between himself and some of his subjects and the idiosyncratic viewpoint he establishes for others. While these devices allow Ponsen to remain objective and unassuming, the viewer is given a window into the feelings of an artist who prided himself on painting what he saw." Source: The Lost Paintings of Tunis Ponsen, Muskegon Museum of Art. All additional information is available upon request.