Ernst Lawson was a member of The Eight, Lawson painted in a more impressionistic style and in lighter tones than did his peers in the pioneering group. The Halifax-born artist spent much of his career in New York, and frequently painted the city's rivers in winter, depicting the effects of sunlight on frozen water and snow. A landscape specialist, Lawson traveled extensively over the course of his lifetime and captured on canvas the many places he visited: France, Spain, New England, Missouri, Colorado and Florida among them. Whether snowscapes or tropical scenes, his works incorporate bold brushwork and thick impasto, providing them with distinctive textural effects.

Lawson studied at New York's Art Students League and in Paris, as well as with John Twachtman, who became an important mentor to him. Though Lawson's works are marked by subtle tonal harmonies, he also used rich colors as accent and counterpoint in the manner of a musical composer, and often punctuated his panoramic views with buildings and bridges, dramatic symbols of modernity in the American landscape.