Painting

Works by Picknell are very special, as he was part of a small group of Americans who ventured to France in the 1880s and worked in a manner so close to his European counterparts.  These artists are considered expatriates, and at the time there was the hope that as they returned home with these works, collectors would accept them and buy them as they did the European masters.  They are important precursors to Impressionism.  And indeed Picknell is often one of the Americans sited as initiating the “glare aesthetic” and techniques that introduced a change of style in the United States.