Description

A vibrant 1925 oil landscape by Lester A. Gillette (1855–1940), titled A Bit of New Mexico Color on the verso. Painted in a luminous palette of lavender, turquoise, pale yellow, green, and rose, the work captures the expansive light and dramatic forms of the American Southwest. A distant mountain rises at left, while sunlit cliffs and desert vegetation fill the right side of the composition, creating a view that feels both atmospheric and boldly decorative.

Gillette’s handling combines American Impressionist looseness with the heightened color and expressive surface associated with early 20th-century Post-Impressionist landscape painting. The brushwork is active and visible throughout, with areas of thick paint, broken color, and scumbled surface texture that give the scene its lively, shimmering quality. The result is not a literal topographical view so much as a response to Southwestern light.

Lester A. Gillette was an American painter associated with Kansas, Massachusetts, and Ohio. His work reflects the broad geographic curiosity of many American artists working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, moving between regional subjects, landscape traditions, and more color-driven modern tendencies. This painting fits naturally within Windsor Gallery’s interest in historically grounded American works with a strong sense of place: signed, titled, dated, visually distinctive, and connected to the wider American landscape tradition.

Object Details

Artist: Lester A. Gillette
Dates: 1855–1940
Title:A Bit of New Mexico Color
Date: 1925
Medium: Oil on board
Signature: Signed lower right
Inscription: Titled and dated on verso: A Bit of New Mexico Color, 1925
Dimensions: 16 × 20 inches
Presentation: Framed
Subject: New Mexico / Southwestern landscape with mountains, cliffs, and desert vegetation
Style: American Impressionist landscape with Post-Impressionist color and expressive brushwork

Condition

The painting presents well overall, with strong color, visible brushwork, and an attractive textured surface. Normal wear along the edges, very minor craquelure, and no visible inpaint under UV light. There are scattered age-related surface marks, small abrasions, and minor wear consistent with age and handling. The surface shows areas of texture, scumbling, and craquelure, especially visible in the lighter passages.

The verso bears handwritten inscriptions and gallery/auction markings. Please review all photographs carefully, as they form part of the condition description.

Purchase Details

Price: $495
Shipping quoted separately. Please inquire for additional photographs, condition details, or a shipping estimate.