LEONARD OCHTMAN

(1854 – 1934)

Born in Zonnemain, Holland, Leonard Ochtman became a noted Tonalist and Impressionist landscape painter of sunsets, twilight and dawn scenes that conveyed silence and serenity. His work was highly sought after in the early part of the 20th century when he did many award-winning oils and watercolors.

He was brought to America in 1866 and settled with his parents in Albany, New York. He became an apprentice in engraving, but as a painter was almost entirely self-taught. He drew and painted from nature and from what he saw in galleries. In the 1870s, he painted in France and was influenced by the Tonalist work of Corot, and in 1880 began exhibiting at the National Academy of Design and in 1883 with the American Water Color Society.

With the money he earned, he traveled in Europe and in 1887 returned to New York City where he opened a studio with Charles Warren Eaton. Shortly after, he married Nina Fonda, a student, and they settled in Greenwich, Connecticut on the Mianus River whose changing scenery was often the subject of his landscapes. Their daughter, Dorothy Ochtman, became a respected still-life painter and prominent resident of Greenwich.

He joined Birge Harrison at the Woodstock, New York Art Colony and served as an instructor. He also painted at Cos Cob, Connecticut and there became a leading member of the Impressionist School that included Theodore Robinson, Childe Hassam, J Alden Weir, and Elmer MacRae.

--AskArt.com