American Impressionist painter Walter Launt Palmer studied formally with Charles Loring Elliott, but received his most influential instruction in landscape painting from Frederick Edwin Church, who was a friend of his father, sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer. He was also exposed to other noted artists in the circle, including John Frederick Kensett.
Walter Palmer also studied in Europe, primarily under Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran, through whom he met Carolus-Duran’s most noted student, John Singer Sargent.
Palmer painted a notable series of room interiors, and another of scenes of Venice, but was noted primarily for his landscapes, and in particular for his dazzling snow scenes. In these he found rich variations in color. He worked in oil, watercolor, gouache and pastel, often combining the latter three in mixed media works on paper.
Walter Launt Palmer: Painting the Moment is an exhibition currently on view at the Albany Institute of History & Art in Albany, NY, that runs until August 16, 2015. The show draws on their extensive permanent collection of Palmer’s works.
James Gurney has a review of the show and overview of Palmer on his blog, Gurney Journey.
There is apparently a catalog accompanying the show, at least I found an image of the cover, but I’ll be damned if I can find any other mention of it on the Institute’s website, so I don’t know if it’s available or not.
Walter Launt Palmer: Poetic Reality is an unrelated biography and catalogue raisonné of his work from 1984.
In addition to the collection of the Albany Institute, there is a good online selection of Palmer’s work on The Athenaeum.
