Monet and American
Impressionism was on view from Feb. 3, 2015 to May 24, 2015 at the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida
Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee from June 25, 2015 through Sept. 20, 2015
Telfair Museums in Savannah, Georgia from Oct. 16, 2015 through Jan. 24, 2016.
Monet and American Impressionism displays works by more than twenty American artists who launched a new way of painting in response to the influence of Monet and French Impressionism. In the late 19th century, these artists adapted the innovations of French Impressionism, and ultimately paved the way to its place as one of the most enduring styles in the history of American art. In addition to four paintings by Monet, the exhibition will present nearly fifty paintings and thirty prints dated between 1882 and 1920 by many of the leading figures in American Impressionism, such as Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf, Theodore Robinson, John Henry Twachtman, and J. Alden Weir.
The exhibition will be organized along five thematic groupings:
Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee from June 25, 2015 through Sept. 20, 2015
Telfair Museums in Savannah, Georgia from Oct. 16, 2015 through Jan. 24, 2016.
Monet and American Impressionism displays works by more than twenty American artists who launched a new way of painting in response to the influence of Monet and French Impressionism. In the late 19th century, these artists adapted the innovations of French Impressionism, and ultimately paved the way to its place as one of the most enduring styles in the history of American art. In addition to four paintings by Monet, the exhibition will present nearly fifty paintings and thirty prints dated between 1882 and 1920 by many of the leading figures in American Impressionism, such as Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf, Theodore Robinson, John Henry Twachtman, and J. Alden Weir.
The exhibition will be organized along five thematic groupings:
- The Allure of Giverny features the Harn Museum’s Giverny landscapes by
-
- Claude Monet (Champ d’avoine)
-
- and Theodore Robinson (Afternoon Shadows)
- alongside loaned works by artists who were active in Giverny between 1887 and 1919, including Theodore Butler, Frederick Frieseke, Willard Metcalf, and Lilla Cabot Perry. These works explore relationships between the United States and France during the period and the American fascination with French art and culture.
- A Country Retreat examines how American artists adapted Impressionist approaches to their paintings of distinctly American landscapes. This section will include the Harn’s landscapes by Childe Hassam, alongside loaned works by Monet and American artists John Leslie Breck, William Merritt Chase, Willard Metcalf, Edward Redfield, and John Twachtman.
- The Vibrance of Urbanism features works by Monet that demonstrate the Impressionists’ interest in depicting scenes of modern life in the city.
-
- Frederick Childe Hassam (1859-1935), French Tea Garden (also known as The Terra-Cuite Tea Set), 1910, oil on canvas, signed and dated at lower right, 35 x 40-1/2 inches, Gift of the Benwood Foundation, 1976.3.13
(Hunter Museum of American Art) - This section presents works by William Glackens, Childe Hassam, Jonas Lie, Gari Melchers, and Maurice Prendergast whose dynamic urban subjects celebrate the dynamism and unique character of major American cities.
- The Comfort of Home presents domestic interiors and gardens—spaces in which women play a central role.
-
- Frederick Carl Frieseke (American, 1874-1939)
The Garden Umbrella, by 1910
Oil on canvas
32 x 32 in.
Telfair Museums, Bequest of Elizabeth Millar (Mrs. Bernice Frost) Bullard, 1942.7 
- Richard Emil Miller (American, 1875-1943)
La Toilette, C. 1914
Oil on canvas, 40 x 32 ½ in. (101.6 x 82.6 cm)
The Columbus Museum, Georgia, Museum purchase made possible by Mrs. J.B. Knight, Jr., in memory of her husband - Here, Monet’s influence can been seen in the work of American artists including Mary Cassatt, Joseph De Camp, Frederick Frieseke, Gari Melchers, Richard Miller, Edmund Tarbell, and Helen Maria Turner. Two impressionistically modeled bronzes by sculptor Bessie Potter Vonnoh are displayed in conjunction with these paintings of domestic subjects
- . A Graphic Legacy addresses how American artists such as Frank Benson, Cassatt, Hassam, Prendergast, and J. Alden Weir translated Impressionist color and light into the print medium. These artists created etchings, drypoints, lithographs and monotypes as an outlet for fresh, creative expression and a means to expand their audience to the art-loving middle class.
Monet and American Impressionism is organized by the Harn Museum of Art in partnership with the Telfair Museums and the Hunter Museum of American Art and is curated by Dulce Román, Curator of Modern Art at the Harn Museum.
“This exhibition grew out of two important works in the Harn’s own collection, Champ d’avoine (Oat Field) by Monet, and Afternoon Shadows by Theodore Robinson, which were donated by our longtime supporters Michael and Donna Singer. The juxtaposition of these paintings prompted our curiosity about the development of Impressionism in America,” said Harn Museum of Art Director Rebecca Nagy. “In addition to featuring works from the Harn’s collections, we are thrilled to bring together important loans from more than twenty-five institutions, including the National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Terra Foundation for American Art, and Brooklyn Museum to generate a strong dialogue about techniques, composition and subject matter.”
A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition and will include essays by Harn Museum curator Dulce Román, Nancy Mowll Mathews, and Telfair Museums curator Courtney A. McNeil. In addition, shorter essays by University of Florida faculty address the artistic, cultural and historical context of American Impressionism from interdisciplinary perspectives in the fields of art history, American history, French literatures, English, women’s studies, and sociology.
