The First Snowfall

Davies employed the fluidity of watercolor combined with the matte texture of pastel, allowing the gray paper to mute the palette. Soft, overlapping strokes create a blended effect, while delicate pastel highlights suggest the sheen of fresh snow.

Arthur B. Davies, an American artist later noted for championing modern art in the United States during the 1910s and 1920s, produced this early work before his involvement with avant‑garde circles. The drawing has remained in private collections, with its provenance documented through early exhibition records.

The piece reflects the late‑19th‑century American interest in atmospheric landscape studies, aligning with contemporary European watercolor practices while anticipating Davies’s later shift toward more experimental subjects and techniques.