Scene on a Lake in the Morning
1906
Medium
Watercolor on gouache, on Japanese paper
Dimensions
20.1 × 28 cm (7 15/16 × 11 1/16 in.)
Classification
watercolor
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
29152
Art Historical Context
Charles Conder’s “Scene on a Lake in the Morning” (1906) captures a tranquil moment with the artist’s signature lyricism. An Australian-born painter who spent much of his career in England and France, Conder was closely associated with the Aesthetic movement and its emphasis on beauty, atmosphere, and decorative harmony. By 1906 he had already gained recognition for small-scale watercolors that evoke dreamlike landscapes rather than precise topography. The work’s intimate scale—just over seven by eleven inches—invites close viewing, while its medium of watercolor and gouache on Japanese paper...