Jonas LaValley [1858-1930]
American
Coffee with a kick, ca.1920
Oil on canvas
22 x 17 inches
Signed at lower right : ‘J. J. LaValley’.

Jonas LaValley [1858-1930]

Jonas Joseph LaValley was born in 1858 at Rouses Point, New York. He spent his youth on the family farm in New York, later in the cotton mills of Chicopee, Massachusetts, and then as a professional barber in Springfield, MA. He started his art career part time in the rear of the barber shop he shared with his brother William, sketching in pencil and pastel and slowly turning to oils, predominantly still-life subjects. By 1899 he opened a studio on Main Street in Springfield, and devoted himself to painting exclusively.

LaValley studied with Willis Seaver Adams, Edmund Case and George Newell Bowers. LaValley enjoyed success selling paintings in Boston, New York and Springfield, and purchased a home in Westfield, MA at the base of Mount Tekoa.

He spent his summers painting landscapes, and winters painting still lifes. Jonas was a co-founder of the Springfield Art League along with Harriet Lumis, and in 1918 was elected the first president.

By his own admission, his favorite subjects were succulent peaches and luscious raspberries which he painted often throughout his career. He died on August 9, 1930 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Credited to Raymond L. Casella, M.D.