The Front Porch

Probably painted on one of Edward Potthast’s summer sojourns to the art colonies of New England, The Front Porch captures a quiet moment on a rainy summer afternoon. Quite different in mood than the paintings of beachgoers for which Edward Potthast is best known, this painting presents an evocative and contemplative scene, showing off his experience as an illustrator in the early part of his career. The artist set up his easel in the shelter of the porch and captured a composition of rhymed shapes that pair the distant trees with architectural elements in the uprights of support beams and shutters on the windows. Potthast’s perspective draws the eye from the house, through the landscape of rich green trees and a verdant lawn to the distant barn with wide-open door. The painting’s lone inhabitant, a seemingly faithful black dog, peers longingly out into the world beyond the front porch.