American Impressionism

American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. American Impressionism is a style of painting characterized by loose brushwork and vivid colors. The style often depicted landscapes mixed with scenes of upper-class domestic life.

The American Impressionism was inspired by French impressionism. Impressionism emerged as an artistic style in France during the 1860s. Various exhibitions of French impressionist works in Boston and New York during the 1880s introduced the style to the American public. The first American impressionist-style artists, such as Theodore Robinson, painted, starting in the late 1880s after visiting France and meeting artists like Claude Monet. Others, like Childe Hassam, paid attention to the growing number of French impressionist works in American exhibitions.

Between the years 1890 and 1910, American Impressionism thrived in the “artistic colonies”; groups of affiliated artists who lived and worked together and shared a common aesthetic vision. Impressionist artists gathered at Cos Cob and Old Lyme in Connecticut; New Hope in Pennsylvania and Brown County, Indiana. Impressionist artists also flourished in California, New York, and Boston.

Impressionism in the United States lost its relative status in the art world in 1913 when a historic exhibition of modern art took place in the armory of the 69th National Guard regiment in New York. The Armory Show (International Exhibition of Modern Art) became a turning point for the arts in the United States towards the so-called ” modern art “, especially accentuated by the First World War, the Great Depression and the beginning of the Second World war.

Overview
Impressionism appeared in France in the 1860s. The new style was honored in the United States with major exhibitions in Boston and New York in the 1880s. The first American impressionist painters such as Theodore Robinson visited France and became friends with artists. like Claude Monet.

From the 1890s to the 1910s, American Impressionism developed in “artist colonies”, that is, in groups of painters living together and sharing the same style. They were formed in small towns where the cost of living was reasonable, where landscapes offered themes for paintings and where painters could find customers to buy them. La Cos Cob Art Colony (en) and Old Lyme (Connecticut), located on Long Island Sound, New Hope (Pennsylvania), Delaware or Brown County (Indiana)are examples of these artist colonies in the United States. Some of the American impressionist painters worked in California, notably in Carmel and Laguna Beach, in New York, in Shinnecock (east of Long Island under the influence of William Merritt Chase and in Boston where Edmund Charles Tarbell and Frank Weston Benson Some of these colonies continued to be active in the 1920s. In France, Giverny welcomed American painters around Claude Monet between 1887 and 1914: Willard Leroy Metcalf, Louis Ritter, Theodore Wendel, John Leslie Breck.

However, impressionist painting fell into disuse after the international exhibition of modern art of the Armory Show, which was held in New York in 1913. American Impressionism underwent a renaissance in the 1950s when the great American museums organized exhibitions on this style.

Among the American impressionist painters, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) holds a special place: settled in France, she rubbed shoulders with the French Impressionists (Edgar Degas and Claude Monet 2). She is considered the first American painter.

History
Impressionism, as an artistic style, was formed in France in the 1860s. In the USA (Boston, New York and other large cities), exhibitions of French impressionists were held and this style became known to the American public. Many American impressionist painters studied in France, in particular at the Academies of Julian and Colarossi, where the venerable painters of France were their teachers.

From the 1890s to 1910s, American impressionism developed in the art colonies of loosely connected groups of artists who lived and worked together, sharing a common aesthetic vision of the world. Such art colonies, as a rule, were formed in small towns located in picturesque places, which provided the impressionists with abundant themes for their work. In large cities, which were relatively easy to reach, artists held their exhibitions and sold works.

Among the places that the Impressionists have chosen were art colonies in Kos Cob and Old Lyme, Connecticut (both near the Long Island Strait); New Hope, Pennsylvania, on the Delaware River; Brown County in Indiana. American impressionism also developed in California at Carmel-by-the-Sea and Laguna Beach; in New York on Long Island (largely due to the influence of William Chase) and in Bostonwhere prominent artists Edmund Tarbell and Frank Benson worked.

Some art colonies remained centers of impressionist art through the 1920s. But this style began to fade after the exhibition of contemporary art in 1913 in New York with the name ” Arsenal Exhibition “, where the first works of avant-garde and abstract art appeared. The First World War and the ensuing Great Depression later became the sunset of Impressionism in the United States. Nevertheless, this direction was of great importance in the painting of the United States – it was prominent American artists who created a large number of works that are in many museums in the United States.

Emerging style
Impressionism emerged as an artistic style in France in the 1860s. Major exhibitions of French impressionist works in Boston and New York in the 1880s introduced the style to the American public. Some of the first American artists to paint in an impressionistic mode, such as Theodore Robinson and Mary Cassatt, did so in the late 1880s after visiting France and meeting with artists such as Claude Monet. Others, such as Childe Hassam, took notice of the increasing numbers of French impressionist works at American exhibitions.

Impressionism in the Industrial Age
As railroads, automobiles, and other new technology emerged, American impressionists often painted vast landscapes and small towns in an effort to return to nature. Before the invention of collapsible paint tubes artists were often confined to using subjects in their studios or painting from memory. With the invention of paint tubes in 1841, artists could transport their paint and easily paint in nature.

Trailblazers
From the 1890s through the 1910s, American impressionism flourished in art colonies—loosely affiliated groups of artists who lived and worked together and shared a common aesthetic vision. Art colonies tended to form in small towns that provided affordable living, abundant scenery for painting, and relatively easy access to large cities where artists could sell their work. Some of the most important American impressionist artists gathered at Cos Cob and Old Lyme, Connecticut, both on Long Island Sound; New Hope, Pennsylvania, on the Delaware River; and Brown County, Indiana. American impressionist artists also thrived in California at Carmel and Laguna Beach; in New York on eastern Long Island at Shinnecock, largely due to the influence of William Merritt Chase; and in Boston where Edmund Charles Tarbell and Frank Weston Benson became important practitioners of the impressionist style.

Jazz Age decline
Some American art colonies remained vibrant centers of impressionist art into the 1920s. However, impressionism in America lost its cutting-edge status in 1913 when a historic exhibition of modern art took place at the 69th Regiment Armory building in New York City. The “Armory Show”, as it came to be called, heralded a new painting style regarded as more in touch with the increasingly fast-paced and chaotic world, especially with the outbreak of World War I, The Great Depression and World War II.

Characteristics of American Impressionism
Unlike early Renaissance painters, American Impressionists favored asymmetrical composition, cropped figures, and plunging perspectives in their works in order to create a more “impressionist” version of the subject. In addition, American impressionists used pure color straight from the tubes to make the works more vibrant, used broken brushstrokes, and practiced “impasto”- a style of painting characterized by thick raised strokes. European impressionists painted tranquil scenes of landscapes or the lower and middle classes. American impressionists focused on landscapes like the European impressionists, but unlike their European counterparts, American impressionists painted scenes that depicted the upper class in an effort to show off America’s economic prowess.

Themes
The American Impressionists witnessed the social and cultural changes linked to urbanization and industrialization. They painted the hustle and bustle of city life (New York by Childe Hassam) as well as the serenity of rural landscapes (Sargent in the Cotswolds, Chase in Southampton in New York State, Twachtman in Greenwich in Connecticut). They featured more intimate subjects in quiet interiors like Mary Cassatt, Edmund Tarbell, Frank Weston Benson.

Among the American Impressionists, the group of ten exercises in New York and adopts radical aesthetic positions. It was formed by Thomas Dewing and Frank Weston Benson by separating from the Society of American Artists (in). Weir introduces modern bridges, mechanical elements in his paintings. Dewing specializes in interior scenes that transpire solitude or melancholy. Robert Reid almost only paints young women in a beautiful setting of plants and flowers.

American Impressionism was subdivided into regional schools: Edmund Tarbell and Frank Benson participated in the Boston School specializing in the painting of elegant women in interior with references to Vermeer. The other regional schools correspond to the artist colonies scattered throughout the country: Hoosier School (Indiana), School of Old Lyme (Connecticut), schools in Pennsylvania and California.

The Impressionists of the decorative figure represent women in gardens and nudes: they form the second generation of American painters in Giverny and acquire an international reputation. Examples include Parker, Guy Rose, E. Graecen, Louis Ritman, FC Frieseke and RE Miller.