Edward Harrison Compton was born on October 11, 1881 as the fourth child of the famous mountain painter Edward Theodore Compton in Feldafing on Lake Starnberg. Compton's father had emigrated to Germany from England in 1867 and spent much of his working life in the Alps, often accompanied by his children on mountain tours. The talent of young Edward, who is apprenticed to his father and educated as a painter at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, became noticeable at an early stage. After completing his studies, the artist returned to Germany and earned his living as a book illustrator and postcard painter, although the Alps remained his preferred subject. As a result of polio, he was tethered to a wheelchair from the age of 28 onwards. He was now compelled to search for easily accessible motifs, such as the Alpine foothills with its valleys, mountain streams, lakes and castles, or cityscapes and southern landscapes, which he traveled on numerous trips.
Like his father, Edward Harrison Compton had great success at many exhibitions, such as the Royal Academy London, the Munich Glass Palace and the Munich Artists' Cooperative. With his father, Edward Harrison Compton, rather unconsciously, became a great promoter of alpine tourism through his pictures, arousing the longing of many people for the landscapes he depicted.
Edward Harrison Compton was a quick, spontaneous painter who was attracted to the changeful nature. His pictures are characterized by bright colours, preferably green and blue. The light as a motif and the luminous colour pigments are typical for the artist's mature and creative period. The monumentality of the mountains and the vastness of nature amazes the viewer. There is no doubt that Edward Harrison Compton is one of the most important chroniclers of the Alpine world.
