American Impressionism: The Lure of the Artists’ Colony

December 5, 2015 – February 21, 2016

Lyrical landscapes of snow-covered hills and sun-drenched harbors, portraits, and still-life paintings exemplify American artists’ varied approaches to Impressionism during the early twentieth century. Oil paintings and works on paper reveal the abiding interest they shared – capturing the effects of light and atmosphere in loosely brushed compositions. Arranged by artists’ colonies from New England to Taos, New Mexico, and California, the exhibition explores the critical role of the colonies in the development of American Impressionism in the 1880s through the 1940s. Colony artists – surrounded and inspired by scenic locations – taught, collaborated, and escaped the daily rigors of their city studios. Included are works by William Merritt Chase, Frank W. Benson, Guy Wiggins, Charles Webster Hawthorne, Edward Redfield, and American expatriate artists Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent. American Impressionism: The Lure of the Artists’ Colony was organized by the Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania.

Exhibition Highlights

Frank Weston Benson, On Grand River, ca. 1930, oil on canvas

William Merritt Chase, My Palette, ca. 1870-1880, oil on canvas

Charles Webster Hawthorne, A Study in White, ca. 1900, oil on canvas

Edward Willis Redfield, Winter in the Valley, ca. 1905-1915, oil on canvas

Robert Lewis Reid, Summer Breezes, ca. 1910-1920, oil on canvas

Guy Carleton Wiggins, Gloucester at Twilight, 1916, oil on canvas

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