Expanding the Bucks County art tradition

Pennsylvania Impressionists sometimes included people in their landscapes to animate them, but Robert Spencer (1879-1931) was different. His works featured local mill workers as the main subject.
Frenchtown-based Francisco Silva, painting today, also wants to shine a light on marginalized people, thorny social ills, and topics heating today’s headlines. A little to his surprise, people want to own these paintings. Perhaps it’s his use of color, which he says was influenced by the Fauves, French painters nicknamed “beasts” because of their bold color choices and muscular brushstrokes.

“I think it’s the humanity, mostly, that appeals to people. The situations I depict are relatable because I put a face on a topic like immigration, showing the tough, often under-employed lives these people must lead. But I also show they have music. Beauty is a part of their lives. That calls to viewers,” Silva says.
More at phillipsmill.org and franciscosilvaart.com.

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