Summer on the Hill

Summer on the Hill is the first book devoted exclusively to paintings by Philip Zuchman. The book’s thirty seven paintings, as well as sketches and quotes from his notebook, were part of what he accomplished during a productive two month stay on Patten Hill in Shelburne, Massachusetts. Patten Hill is a unique rural environment that has farmland, wetland, forest and a nature preserve with touches of wilderness. Zuchman has painted on Patten Hill for close to thirty years and sees it as an ideal, diversified environment. The book begins with a critical essay by the Artist-teacher- writer Peter London, that examines the unique qualities, dedication to a theme and the more and less of Zuchman’s prolific career. Zuchman has been a plein-air painter for fifty years during which time he has developed unique knife painting techniques and working methods. For many years his field painting trips have been to New England, across America, South America and Europe. His devotion to the landscape has roots in his poetic and philosophical understandings of man’s finding place and living within it rather than the self-destructive will to dominate. Zuchman has exhibited in twenty countries on five continents and has served as an American Cultural Ambassador for the United States State Department.