Commonly known as Pop Hart, George Overbury Hart (1868-1933) is regarded as one of the finest watercolorists in modern American art. He was associated with the leading figures of early 20th-century modernism and the New York school of Social Realism, including Arthur B. Davies, Robert Henri, Edward Hopper, Walt Kuhn, and John Sloan. Hart began his career as a sign painter for amusement parks around New York City. Although sometimes said to have been self-taught, Hart was actually highly trained, studying for three years at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Academie Julian in Paris. During his residency at an artists' colony in Fort Lee, New Jersey, Hart produced stage sets for motion picture studios. He was nomadic by nature and traveled to places like Iceland, Egypt, the South Sea Islands, South America, and the West Indies. He preferred to work in watercolor "en plein air" and was a keen observer of human activity. He was an excellent draftsman, and worked in a highly unorthodox style, spontaneously layering watercolors in loose strokes. He briefly experimented with several styles and in the 1920s began to work in print media. Hart was a member of the American Water Color Society, the New York Watercolor Club, the Brooklyn Society of Etchers, the Salons of America, and the Society of Independent Artists.

Biography courtesy of Roger King Gallery of Fine Art, www.antiquesandfineart.com/rking

George Overbury Hart, nicknamed "Pop," was a well-known figure in the history of American watercolor painting and printmaking in the 1910s and 1920s. He was associated with the American realist movement, which began at the turn of the century under Robert Henri, and like Henri, Hart derived his subject matter from his immediate experience and portrayed his works with a vigorous, improvisational technique.

Hart was born in Cairo, Illinois, and grew up in Rochester, New York. In the early 1890s, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago while supporting himself as a sign painter. He continued his training at the Academie Julian in Paris in 1907. About 1908 he settled in Coytesville, New Jersey, where he became an important member of the local artists' colony, fraternizing with the artists Walt Kuhn, Edward Hopper, and Van Dearing Perrine. In the 1920s Hart turned to printmaking, receiving wide critical acclaim for his bold experimentation and originality in different print methods. An inveterate traveler, often referred to as the "dean of our globe-trotting painters," Hart visited and painted in such exotic locales as Tahiti, North Africa, Iceland, and Mexico. However, he was also drawn to the regional landscape. In addition to depicting views of the Palisades and various beaches in and around Fort Lee, New Jersey, Hart also portrayed the industrial landscape, deriving his subject matter from the numerous small towns situated in New Jersey along the Hudson.

Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton