Wrapping up my
Thanksgiving period blogs is a big Thank You for the painting movement called American Impressionism. When I think of movements
that have influenced my own painting, American Impressionism is right up there
with French Impressionism itself, and German Expressionism. Up until the time of the
American impressionists, there were no inroads into the entrenched realism that dominated American painting. I
guess I really just like artists who buck the established system—at the time
the National Academy in New York that held itself to be the arbiter of American
artistic taste.
Just as happened in France in the 1870s, Impressionism was
slow to catch on with critics and the public in the US, starting in the 1880s
when French impressionist works were exhibited in America. When American
artists painting in the style began exhibiting in the 1890s, they too initially
found a cool reception. American patrons preferred didactic realism in the form
of genre scenes, portraiture, and descriptive landscapes. While American impressionists
presented depictions of real landscapes, their approach with broken color and
active brush work did not initially fare well. Their style was considered
unsophisticated by academic hacks.
Childe Hassam studied in
Paris for three years starting in 1883. Exposed to Impressionism, his palette
lightened and he adopted the short, quick brush strokes of Impressionist (and
some Post-Impressionist) painters. He
returned to New York in 1890. By the mid-1890s, there were many artists
painting in impressionist styles. Ignored by the National Academy and largely
by the public, Hassam, along with nine other impressionists, formed the Ten
American Painters (first exhibit 1898 in New York). The group was devoted to
Impressionism, exhibiting outside official venues.
Hassam has always been my favorite of the American impressionists.
His landscapes are absolutely gorgeous, and, like most of the American
Impressionists (including Mary Cassatt), his
interest in depicting the effects of light on color and form did not lead him
to the total disintegration of the subject. Later in life, while still working
in the Impressionist palette and fluid brush work, Hassam’s works bordered on
expressionistic, as we see in this lovely
seascape from one of his hiatuses in Cos Cob.
Activity: Using
tempera paint and various size brushes, create a fantasy landscape that
emphasizes bright colors in either warm or cool families, related lines and
shapes to create rhythm. Be sure to repeat the elements to create patterns and
movement.
Correlations to Davis
programs: Explorations in Art Grade 1: 3.16, 4.21; Explorations in Art
Grade 2: 1.5; Explorations in Art Grade 3: 2.12; Explorations in Art Grade 4:
3.14, 4.21, 4.22; Explorations in Art Grade 5: 6.32; A Personal Journey: 5.1; A
Community Connection: 5.1; A Global Pursuit: 2.2; Exploring Visual Design: 4, 5,
6, 8.