Daniel Garber was born in 1880 to a Mennonite farm family near North Manchester, Indiana. He eventually settled in Pennsylvania, where he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under William Merritt Chase. He was awarded a fellowship, which allowed him to study in England, France, and Italy. When he returned in 1909, he became a faculty member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, teaching painting and drawing for the next forty-one years. Garber was known as one of the leaders of the Pennsylvania Impressionists, or the New Hope School, as the group was called. He depicted the quarries, woods, and Delaware River Valley of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His home near Lumberville was not far from the great stone quarries at Byram, New Jersey, which he often painted. Like most Impressionists, Garber painted out of doors directly from nature. These patterned scenes were dominated by shades of blue, green, and yellow. His work earned gold medals and numerous awards and prizes.

In Pioneer’s House, the quarry rises behind the structure, and the trees almost conceal its simple exterior. The artist plays against the rounded shapes of the quarry, the vertical elements of the spreading trees, and the rigid geometry of the house to create a scene of strongly contrasting forms.

Humphries, Lance. Daniel Garber: His Life and Work. New York: Hollis Taggart Galleries, 2006.

Peterson, Brian H. Pennsylvania Impressionism. Philadelphia: James A Michener Art Museum and University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.