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VOL. 43, NO. 19 FRIDAY MAY 11, 2012
American Impressionists Highlight Summer Season At The Fenimore
reaking the rules” of can truly be called some of the academic painting in first, modern American their time, the artists paintings.” who came to be called The artists represented in “Impressionists” left a body of “American Impressionism: work that is still revered and Paintings of Light and Life” admired throughout the world. were among the first generaAt the same time, these pioneers tion of American painters to inspired countless other artists. A utilize the techniques of their rare grouping of paintings and French counterparts, such as a sketches from American brighter palette and the use of Impressionist masters highlights broken brushwork. While the summer season at the using innovative techniques, Fenimore Art Museum in they were traditional in their Cooperstown, New York. selection of subject matter, “American Impressionism: seeking out and painting colorPaintings of Light and Life,” will ful landscapes, beach scenes, be on view at the museum from urban views, and perspectives May 26 to September 16. The of small town life. The artists exhibition will showcase had a particular interest in the groundbreaking artists, including way light could be captured on Claude Monet, Childe Hassam, canvas. William Merritt Chase, Mary Frederick Childe Hassam Cassatt, Theodore Robinson, (October 17, 1859 - August 27, John Henry Twachtman, and oth1935) was a prolific American ers. These adaptors of the French Impressionist painter, noted for Impressionist style revolutionhis urban and coastal scenes. ized the American art scene in Josephine in the Garden, circa 1890, Theodore Robinson Along with Mary Cassatt and the late 19th century, and ulti(1852-1896), 32-1/4 by 26-1/8 inches, Arkell Museum John Henry Twachtman, mately paved the way to a Hassam was instrumental in Collection, Gift of Bartlett Arkell, 1946. uniquely American style of promoting Impressionism to during this immediately following the show, American collectors, dealers, and painting. The works in the Fenimore Child in Sunlight, 1915, Willard Leroy Metcalf (1858-1925), oil on period to and throughout the next decade, museums. One of the Hassam paintexhibition will be on loan from canvas, 25-1/8 by 21 inches, Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of travel in nearly all of them underwent signif- ings included in “American search of icant changes in their work. In gen- Impressionism” is titled simply, several sources, including The Mrs. Henriette Metcalf. compelling eral, these artists shifted from an American Elm, (Arkell Hall Arkell Museum (Canajoharie, New Clark Art Institute) which is an York), The Florence Griswold excellent example of French subject matter and to paint in Museum (Old Lyme, Connecticut), Impressionism that inspired and series. There are two other paintThe Parrish Museum influenced these American artists. ings that depict nearly identical (Southampton, New York), and The Revered by the American painters views of the bridge, and another Metropolitan Museum of Art (New included in the exhibition as one of that takes a longer view of Dolceacqua, the small town on the Italian coast just west of the French border. Impressionism was a painting style imported to America after the 1880s. The major catalyst was Paris-based art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel’s 1886 exhibition of French Impressionist paintings in New York City. Comprising nearly 300 paintings by Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, and others, the exhibition marked the beginning of serious interest in Impressionist art on behalf not only of American collectors, but also American painters. “Despite the controversy stirred in the press by the avantgarde quality of the works on view,” says Megan Holloway Fort, “the show was so popular that it was transferred to the National Academy of Design with additional loans from a small group of New York collections and works by Mary Cassatt. Gloucester Harbor, John Twachtman (1853-1902, circa 1900, oil on canvas, 25 Durand-Ruel is reported to have by 25 inches. Arkell Museum at Canajoharie, Gift of Bartlett Arkell, 1939. earned some $40,000 from the exhibition, which marked the academic style that was controlled, Foundation.) During his long beginning of serious interest in deliberate, crafted in the studio, and career Hassam created numerous Impressionist art on behalf not only marked by an absolute precision of paintings and etchings that focused of American collectors, but also finish, to embrace the expressive on trees in summer landscapes. American painters.” brushwork, unfinished paint sur- Though they seem uncomplicated Provincetown, 1900, Childe Hassam (1859-1935), oil on canvas, 24-1/8 by 22Fort continues, “Indeed, the face, light high-keyed palette, infor- at first glance, his paintings such as 1/8 inches, Arkell Museum Collection, Gift of Bartlett Arkell. 1886 exhibition acted as a power- mal compositions, and plein-air American Elm not only document York, New York). the founders of Impressionist paint- ful catalyst for American artists, technique that are the hallmarks of the evolution of his Impressionist Featured in “American ing in France, Claude Monet was especially those who would come to Impressionist painting.” style, but they can also be seen as Speaking about the paintings in reflections of his lifelong interest in Impressionism” are twenty-six the most prolific practitioner of the be known as The Ten-Childe iconic paintings, dating from 1881 movement’s philosophy of painting Hassam, John H. Twachtman, the exhibition at the Fenimore, American heritage. The art historian to 1920. The works represent nearly outdoors and expressing one’s per- Julian Alden Weir, Frank Weston Museum President and CEO, Dr. Elizabeth Broun has written that every noted American ceptions of nature. Bridge at Benson, Joseph Rodefer De Camp, Paul S. D’Ambrosio states, “The Hassam portrayed elks, elms, and Impressionist from the period. The Dolceacqua dates to the middle of Thomas Dewing, Willard Metcalf, paint, the color, and the light in hickories as silent guardians of exhibit will also include Claude Monet’s career, following his 1883 Robert Reid, Edward E. Simmons, these works separated them from America’s “origin myth.” For Monet’s Bridge at Dolceacqua move to the village of Giverny. This Edmund C. Tarbell, and later anything that had been done in this example, the American Elm, native (1884), (Sterling and Francine canvas reflects his twin tendencies William Merritt Chase. Almost country before.” He adds, “They (Continued on page 2)
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