View from Manchester

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Omer T. Lassonde was born in Penacook, New Hampshire and studied at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Barnes Foundation. After touring Europe he returned to New Hampshire, where he painted prolifically in many genres, including portraits, landscapes and still life. In 1929 he was sponsored by the Governor of New Hampshire to visit and study in Samoa. His work there and in the later years was coloristic and painterly, influenced by that earlier visitor to Oceania, Gaugin. Later trips took him across the United States, but in the wake of the Great Depression, he returned to New Hampshire, where he directed the WPA art program and later founded the New Hampshire Art Association. Upon his death, much of his property passed on to the NHAA, and in 1987 his wife donated his collection ( some 500 paintings) to the Association as well. Lassonde lived in Manchester, and the city was a frequent subject, View from Manchester looks west towards Mc Uncancoonuc. In Fauve manner, its looks, thick paint strokes invigorate its lively and complementary colors. Its energy and simplicity suggest a child like abandonment of the joys of nature.

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