Ernest Haskell was born in Woodstock, Connecticut. In 1897 he left to study in Paris, returning to New York in 1899 and supporting himself with portrait work and poster design.

The mountain lake in Ernest Haskell's etching The Sylvan Sea was one of many different locales--from California to Florida to Maine--he depicted in his work. In addition to paintings and illustrations, Haskell was a prolific printmaker, producing more than four hundred prints between 1900 and 1925. His landscapes, reflecting a sensitive and often intense response to nature, were exhibited by Alfred Stieglitz with works by other modernists such as John Marin and Max Weber.

[This is an excerpt from the interactive companion program to the videodisc American Art from the National Gallery of Art. Produced by the Department of Education Resources, this teaching resource is one of the Gallery's free-loan educational programs.]