James Taylor Harwood (American, 1860–1940)
Old Paris, 1929
Oil on canvas
23 × 29½ in.
James T. Harwood, one of Utah’s earliest professionally trained artists, studied at the Académie Julian in Paris under Gustave Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre. He became the first Utahn to exhibit at the Paris Salon (1891) and went on to play a central role in shaping Utah’s art community as a teacher and director of the Utah Art Institute. Harwood’s career bridged European academic traditions with American regional art, blending precise draftsmanship with impressionist-influenced color and light.
Painted during his later years, Old Paris reflects Harwood’s enduring affection for the city where his artistic voice was formed. The work depicts a quiet cobblestone street, rustic stone buildings, and a lone woman at a well beneath an autumnal tree. Harwood’s textured brushwork and warm tonalities transform an ordinary neighborhood corner into a scene of poetic calm. A small sign on a wall warns “Chien Méchant” (“Beware of Dog”), a realistic detail that anchors the scene in the daily rhythms of urban life.
This painting embodies Harwood’s ability to fuse narrative observation with atmosphere, offering both a personal homage to Paris and a timeless vignette of the city’s quieter quarters.
