Monet and American Impressionism

By Victoria Guerin

“Monet and American Impressionism,” currently on view at Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, highlights the legacy of Monet on 25 artists who launched a new way of painting in response to the influence of French Impressionism. In the late 19th century, they adapted the innovations of Europe, 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 presents nearly 50 paintings and 30 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. Organized by Dulce Román, Harn’s curator of modern art, the exhibition includes landscapes, portraits, intimate depictions of women and children, and images of modern life such as urban views and popular leisure activities. In addition to paintings from the collections of the Harn, Telfair Museums and Hunter Museum of American Art, works have been loaned from a number of public museums, including the National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Terra Foundation for American Art and Brooklyn Museum.

Claude Monet, Champ d’avoine (Oat Field), 1890. Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, Gift of Michael A. Singer. All images are courtesy of the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art.

“Monet and American Impressionism” includes five thematic sections. The first section is entitled The Allure of Giverny. It 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, 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. The second section, 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 Hassam alongside loaned works by Monet and American artists John Leslie Breck, Chase, Metcalf, Edward Redfield and Twachtman.

Frederick Childe Hassam, Northeast Gorge at Appledore, 1912. Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, Museum purchase by exchange, gift of Louise H. Courtelis with additional funds provided by Michael A. Singer.

For its part, the third section, The Vibrance of Urbanism, features works by Monet that demonstrate the Impressionists’ interest in depicting scenes of modern life in the city. This sector presents works by William Glackens, Hassam, Jonas Lie, Gari Melchers and Maurice Prendergast, whose dynamic urban subjects celebrate the dynamism and unique character of major American cities. The fourth section is The Comfort of Home, which presents domestic interiors and gardens-spaces in which women play a central role. Here, Monet’s influence can been seen in the work of Mary Cassatt, Joseph DeCamp, Frieseke, 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. Finally, A Graphic Legacy addresses how American artists such as Frank Benson, Cassatt, Hassam, Prendergast and Weir translated Impressionist color and light into the print medium. They 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.

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Helen Maria Turner, Lilies, Lanterns, and Sunshine, 1923. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, Gift of W.B.S. Grandy.

“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,” Harn director Rebecca Nagy said. “The juxtaposition of these paintings prompted our curiosity about the development of Impressionism in America.”

In June 2015, this remarkable curatorial project will travel to the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tenn., and then to the Telfair Museums in Savannah, Ga., where it will be exhibited through January 2016.

“Monet and American Impressionism” is on view until May 24. Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art is located at 3259 Hull Road, Gainesville, Fla. 32611 | www.harn.ufl.edu.