Laurence Sisson

Four-Panel Thumbnail Sketches of Desert and Canyon Landscapes in Ink on Paper

late 20th Century

Laurence Sisson, was a student of Herbert Barnett (1910-1972), he was one of America's preeminent realist painters today. His work may be found in the permanent collections of museums nationwide including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Portland Museum of Art, Maine. Laurence Sisson painted landscapes for sixty years. He was known for his paintings of the Maine coast and landscapes of the southwest. His style ranges from plein air watercolors to large oil landscapes with abstract and surrealist elements. Laurence Sisson spent 50 years living in both areas of the United States yet he notes the most influential place for his artistic development was the time he spent in Japan as a young man. Laurence Sisson was been a talented painter as a child and attended art classes at the Worcester Art museum in Massachusetts. Sisson painted professionally while in his early twenties though he had not decided to devote his life to art. While serving in the military during the United States occupation of Japan after War World II he was assigned to decorate the general's residence in Yokohama. This assignment forced him to learn all he could about the land and culture of Japan and by the time he left he was changed as an artist and man. Sisson describes this period of his painting as when he began "designing nature." His work appears to be a response to traditional Asian landscape painting, his Yankee sensibility and western art training at Yale summer school. His landscapes of both Maine and the southwest are inspired by real locations, but are in fact imaginary landscapes. Sisson was the youngest member of the Watercolor Society of America.