Alfred William Finch (1854–1930)
Paysan ecobuant sont champ (Peasant Burning His Field), n.d.

Oil on canvas
McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, Gift of Charles Hack and the Hearn Family Trust

Jeffery Howe
Professor Emeritus, Art History

A farmer burning the brush from his field provided Finch an opportunity to explore effects of smoke against dark fields. He applies paint thickly, with the broad strokes of a palette knife, especially visible in the clouds of white smoke. Finch was a founding member of the avant-garde exhibition society Les XX in Brussels, which rebelled against the academic tradition. He later adopted a luminous neo-impressionist style, experimented with pottery, and in 1897 moved to Finland to lead a ceramics studio.