The Country Store

Edward Lamson Henry collected antiques and architectural remnants throughout his career and incorporated them into his scenes of the age of homespun. A contemporary wrote that “He often makes long journeys in search of the right historical bit . . . in looking at one of his old-time scenes one feels sure that there are no anachronisms and that every least detail has been drawn with loving care and research” (Buff, “Portrait of the Collector as Artist,” Antiques World, April 1981). Scenes such as The Country Store, painted after he and his wife had settled in their home in Cragsmoor, New York, did well in the art market. These images met the desires of antiquarians who imagined a life in a simpler, more picturesque time, before industrialization had changed the American landscape.