I love that this painting dates late 1950 but feels so fresh and contemporary, oil on canvas signed on front and verso, artist made wood strip gallery frame. Edward John Stevens, Jr. was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on February 4, 1923. He was known primarily as a Painter and Educator. He studied art at the New Jersey State Teachers College, Newark and received his B.A. in 1943, at Columbia University Teachers College, M.A. in 1944, and at the Art Extension, 1944-47, with Henry Varnum Poor and George Picken. He was a member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Club, and the Audubon Artist. He exhibited at the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Annual in 1945, 1951; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 1963; at the Pasedena Art Institute 1946; the Brooklyn Museum of Art 1945, 1946; the Art Institute of Chicago in 1947, 1949; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida; the Philadelphia Art Alliance 1946; the Weyhe Gallery 1944-1971 (22 Solo Exh.); the Whitney Museum of American Art Annual 1954; the Brooklyn Museum of Art International Watercolor Exh. 1955; the Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey, Triennial 1964; the National Academy of Design 1968 (Henry Ward Ranger Fund Purchase Prize). Steven was named Artist of the Year by the Hudson Artists in 1954, and won a bronze medal at the New Jersey Tercentenary in 1964. His work is represented at Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii. Edward John Stevens, Jr. died on November 15,1988.