Ryder, Albert Pinkham

Ryder, Albert Pinkham (1847-1917), American visionary painter; he was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and many of his paintings reflect an obsession with the sea. About 1870 he settled in New York and studied briefly at the National Academy of Design. Despite this, and his several short trips to Europe, his romantic, mystic style remained unaffected by outside influences. His technique, too, was idiosyncratic, involving thick applications of several coats of paint without allowing proper drying time, and heavy coats of varnish. For this reason, many of his paintings have deteriorated badly. Ryder lived reclusively, working painstakingly, often repainting a composition many times; thus, his works are difficult to date and his entire output consists of only about 160 canvases. His landscapes and seascapes include Toilers of the Sea (c. 1884, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and The Race Track, or Death on a Pale Horse (1895, Cleveland Museum of Art). Later, he turned to scenes based on biblical or Shakespearean subjects—such as Jonah (1890s, National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C.) and Macbeth and the Witches (Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.). His paintings, although small, are characterized by their luminosity and their balanced composition of forms and masses of subtle, monochromatic colour.