Eric Sloane (born Everard Jean Hinrichs) was an American realist painter, and sign painter too. Echoes of Andrew Wyeth in the melancholy barnscapes he was famous for.
"Over his lifetime Sloane wrote thirty eight books. It is estimated that he created nearly 15,000 paintings over his lifetime, mostly oil on masonite. He painted one almost every day, often before lunch, striving to do better than the day before. Later in his life, he bought back or traded for some of his earlier work, which he destroyed by fire, contending it was inferior.
It was at a Warren Library [CT I believe - ed.] book sale that he is said to have discovered Noah Blake's diary, an original account of New England farm life in 1805. With Sloane's unique illustrations and commentary the diary became the framework for Sloane's most successful book, Diary of an Early American Boy: Noah Blake 1805.
Fascinated by weather, The Farmer's Almanac and the early American farmer's ability interpret "weather signs", Sloane is credited with being the first television weatherman, having come up with the idea of having farmers from all over New England call in their weather observations to a Dumont, New York TV station where they could be broadcast to the regional audience. He penned several useful books on the subject.
Sloane is also credited with being the foremost authority on Early American rural architecture and Early American tools. His many books of paintings and drawings, and especially his "A Museum of Early American Tools", are considered the most important historical source works on the subjects. The Sloane Stanley Museum in Kent, Connecticut houses Sloane's own personal collection of Early American tools, as well as an exact replica of his painting studio. "A Reverence for Wood" is an invaluable resource to scholars of old growth timber in New England." via ericsloane.com
Love this guy's stuff. The lettering, rural images, all of it. His bio dubs him Mr Americana - and not surprising as he changed his name to
Eric by taking the middle of the word America... and choose Sloane in reverence to John Sloan, a leading figure in the
Ashcan School of realist artists.
