Portrait of Walter H. Gardner

In melding the seemingly antithetical styles of the academic mode and Impressionism, Garber combined skillful technique, exacting compositional strategy, and a sensitivity to color in his light-filled canvases. As an instructor at the Academy for more than forty years, he represented the conservative faction, which stressed rigorous technical training over experimentation. Garber was one of the pioneering artists among the American Impressionists who found inspiration in the landscape around New Hope, in Pennsylvania's Delaware Valley. While he is best known as a painter, Garber was also an extremely skillful graphic artist. His drawings and prints equal his work in oil. Garber acquired his love for charcoal drawing while he was a student at the Academy, a pursuit encouraged by his teacher Thomas Anshutz. Walter Gardner was a student of Garber's from 1921 to 1928 and on occasion teacher and student spent evenings sketching or posing for one another. This image of Gardner is characteristic of Garber's portrait drawings: tightly rendered figure bathed in dramatic light, set against a sketchy, shadowy background.