Known for his Tonalist* nature paintings, especially snow scenes, in conservative style, John Carlson was one of the leading landscape painters in America in the early 20th century. John F. Carlson was one of the most important teachers of landscape painting in the early decades of the twentieth century.

He founded the John F. Carlson School of Landscape painting in Woodstock, New York, and in 1942, co-founded with Emile Gruppe a summer school in Gloucester. He was a proponent of juxtaposing light and shadow to capture the changing moods of nature.

He spent his childhood in Kalmar-Lan, Sweden, and immigrated at age 10 with his family to Brooklyn, New York and later to Buffalo. His father, encouraging his son's art talent, hired a private tutor, and he later attended the Buffalo Albright Art Schoo.l