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Earl Crawford was a landscape painter from Pittsburgh, where he maintained a studio at his home at 7346 Whipple St. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Crawford studied at the Carnegie Institute, the University of Pittsburgh, and with Christian J. Walter. He was a member of the Golden Triangle Association and the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, exhibiting at both organizations' annual exhibitions in the 1930s and 1940s. At the 32nd exhibition of the Associated Artists in 1942 he received an honorable mention, and at the 34th annual in 1944, Crawford was awarded the Ida Smith Memorial Prize for best landscape in oil. In a review of the show by the organization's vice president, Clarence H. Carter, Crawford was praised for his Slaymaker Farm, "in which the reds of the earth and the blues of the sky are intensified and balanced in such a way that they make for one of the most feeling and tasteful canvases to come from his hand."
Crawford's sensitivity to color can be seen in his Carrie Furnace, which was exhibited at the 27th Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Exhibition in 1937. It depicts a furnace in Rankin, Pennsylvania, a town southeast of Pittsburgh on the Monongahela River. Throughout the scene, Crawford uses large, bold brushstrokes to capture the various aspects of the view: foliage rendered in high-keyed greens dominates the foreground, beyond which lie several sets of railroad tracks and the reddish-brown and grey structure of the furnace. A sense of atmospheric perspective is achieved by the use of pale hues for the steep hill in the background, which is in stark contrast to the bright colors of the foreground. At the foot of the hill, the artist has indicated in cool grays the Monogahela River, which flows past the furnace.
In 1946, Crawford received the honor of being invited to participate in the Carnegie Institute's 13th annual Exhibition of Paintings by Pittsburgh Artists. Popularly known as the Summer Show, the exhibition was devoted exclusively to works in oil by artists who lived and worked in Pittsburgh. The 1946 exhibition featured the work of thirty-two artists, including L.W. Blanchard, Esther Topp Edmunds, C. Kermit Ewing, Roy Hilton, Louise Pershing, Harry Scheuch, and Rachel McClelland Sutton, all of whom are represented in the Steidle Collection. Crawford also exhibited at the Butler Art Institute, Youngstown, Ohio, in 1944 and 1945; the Indiana State Teachers College, Indiana, Pennsylvania, in 1945 (receiving a prize) and 1946; and at Parkersburg, West Virginia, in 1945 and 1946.
Sources:
Lias, Thomas R., "Let's Look at the Jury: A Discussion of the Judging of the 32nd Annual Exhibition of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 15, February 1942, pp. 259-270.
Carter, Clarence H., "Thirty-Fourth Annual in Review," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 17, February 1944, pp. 259-266.
"The Summer Show," Carnegie Magazine, vol. 20, July 1946, pp. 77-78.
Falk, Peter Hastings (edit.). Who Was Who in American Art. Madison, CT: Sound View Press, 1985.
This document copyright © 1996, Eric John Schruers