Ernest Albert (1857-1946) American, Estate Landscape Oil on Canvas. Depicts an elegant mansion and gate. Signed bottom right.  Title on plaque at bottom of frame: "Cairnwood Gateway." Title written on back of canvas along with the words "Bryn Athyn" and the artist's signature. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Overall Size: 27 1/2 x 20 1/4 in. 

Sight Size: 21 3/4 x 14 1/2 in. 

Frame Thickness: 1 3/4 in. 

Ernest “Ernie” Albert was born Ernest Albert Brown on August 15th, 1857 in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of 15 he began studies at the Montague Art School with John Barnard Whittaker (1836-1926), concurrently studying at the Brooklyn Art Institute. That same year he won the Graham Art Medal, and the following year he began an apprenticeship in scenic painting. In 1880 Albert moved to St. Louis, Missouri to take up a position as the resident art director and scenic designer at Pope’s Theatre. In 1883 he joined the design firm of Joe Toomey and Tom Noxon as a full partner. Albert’s initial work in the firm was as designer for the Grand Opera House and Olympia Theatre in St. Louis, but in 1885 he relocated to Chicago to handle the company’s operations there. He was the resident scenic designer at the Grand Opera House there and designed the Haymarket Theatre, and his work for both eventually led him to further work in Buffalo, New York, crafting designs for touring companies and Broadway shows. In 1890 he traveled overseas for the first time to design the sets for the West End in the Lyceum Theatre in London. Albert dissolved his partnership with Noxon and Toomey when he formed a new design firm, Albert, Grover & Burridge with Walter Burridge and O.D. Grover, in 1892. That same year he participated in the planning of the World’s Columbian Exposition, and became a founding member of the Chicago chapter of the American Society of Scenic Painters. Albert relocated to New York City in 1894, and began a prolific career as a scenic designer for over 100 Broadway productions through 1918. In 1916 Albert moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, and the last 30 years of his life were spent dedicated almost entirely to landscape painting, a pursuit he had first explored around the turn of the century. He was elected the first president of the Allied Artists of America in 1919. He participated in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally during his career, and his artwork was popular throughout his lifetime, with permanent exhibitions at the Florence Griswold Museum and the Wadsworth Atheneum. Albert died on March 25th, 1946 at his home, which was also filled with murals he had created over the years, and which have been preserved as a home museum. He is considered one of the major American landscape painters and scenic designers of the early days of Broadway, and his influence was felt long into the 20th Century with sets for classic shows like Carousel and Oklahoma! emulating his style.

Commensurate with age.