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Earth, River, and Light: Masterworks of Pennsylvania Impressionism

OLD LYME, CT -- April 28, 2003: The Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut is proud to be the first venue for a nationally touring exhibition of Pennsylvania Impressionism organized by the James A. Michener Museum of Art in Doylestown, PA. Earth, River, and Light: Masterworks of Pennsylvania Impressionism showcases forty-seven rarely seen paintings from public and private collections and presents a comprehensive survey of this important art movement. The exhibition, on view June 28 through September 28, 2003, will be complemented by selected paintings by Connecticut Impressionist artists of the same time period from the collection of the Florence Griswold Museum. Funding for the exhibition in Old Lyme is supported by Pfizer Inc.

The history of American Impressionism can be described as a history of art colonies. At the turn of the twentieth century, artists searched for rural enclaves in the hopes of finding picturesque subjects, inexpensive lodgings, and the camaraderie of other creative spirits. Earth, River, and Light: Masterworks of Pennsylvania Impressionism showcases this rich artistic tradition in one such place. In 1898, the artists of Bucks County, Pennsylvania began to form a colony in and around the village of New Hope, on the banks of the Delaware River, north of Philadelphia. This group, known as the Pennsylvania Impressionists, played a dominant role in the American art world of the teens and twenties, winning countless awards and sitting on numerous prestigious exhibition juries. Their work was celebrated for its freedom from European influence, and praised by the noted painter and critic Guy Pene du Bois as "our first truly national expression."

Many of the artists both studied and taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Their stylistic roots are steeped in the "Academy Realism" practiced by Thomas Eakins and his followers. Edward Redfield was generally acknowledged as the stylistic leader of the New Hope painters. His vigorously realistic, unsentimental brand of Impressionism influenced several generations of artists associated with the group. As evident in the drama of his painting, The Upper Delaware, Redfield worked to reflect the details of a specific scene as they are revealed through the transient effects of light and weather. What was most characteristic of Pennsylvania Impressionism was that there was no unified style, but rather the emergence of many mature and distinctive voices. Whether it was Daniel Garber’s luminous, poetic renderings of the Delaware River; Fern Coppedge’s colorful village scenes; Robert Spencer’s Ashcan School-influenced views of mills and tenements; John Fulton Folinsbee’s moody snowscapes; or William L. Lathrop’s deeply-felt, evocative Bucks County vistas, each artist endeavored to capture on canvas their perception of the world around them.

Simultaneous to the founding of the New Hope art colony, artists from New York and Boston were looking for a place to paint, away from the pressures of city life. They found their ideal setting in Old Lyme, Connecticut. To give visitors an opportunity to compare these two centers of Impressionist painting, the Florence Griswold Museum will display a complementary selection of works created by Connecticut artists such as Childe Hassam, John Henry Twachtman, and Willard Metcalf. Florence Griswold Museum curator Amy Ellis explains: "Impressionist artists responded to their natural environment. Their paintings show how they captured the ‘sense of place’ distinct to the region in which they worked, revealing common compositional concerns as well as differences. Interspersing Connecticut Impressionists works throughout the exhibition creates a visual dialogue between the two schools that increases our understanding of each."

One interesting comparison between the two colonies was the nurturing presence of a strong woman. Loving, motherly Annie Lathrop was a central figure in the lives of the New Hope artists. As a family friend recalled, "She sewed on their buttons, darned their stockings, taught them to cook, in fact did everything for them except bear their babies." Her Sunday teas were legendary, her home the social center.

Similarly, "Miss Florence" Griswold, at whose boarding house the Lyme Art Colony gathered, stimulated a remarkable congeniality among the artists and lent respectability to their good-natured high jinks. Her kind, generous spirit was a constant force behind the colony.

Earth, River, and Light: Masterworks of Pennsylvania Impressionism is organized by the James A. Michener Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and is curated by Brian H. Peterson. The exhibition is circulated by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California. The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication, Pennsylvania Impressionism, produced by the Michener Art Museum and principally authored by Peterson with essays by Sylvia Yount and William Gerdts. It is available for purchase in the Florence Griswold Museum Shop. An "Explorer’s Guide" filled with intriguing questions and "learning to look" games is available free of charge to help parents and their children learn about the exhibition together.

The Florence Griswold Museum, a historic center for American art, encompasses eleven acres along the Lieutenant River, an education center, a restored artist studio, gardens, a new riverfront gallery, and the 1817 Griswold House. The Museum is open year round Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and students, $4 for 6-12. Visitors under 6 are free. The Museum is located at 96 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT, exit 70 off I-95. For additional information contact the Museum at 860/434-5542 or www.flogris.org.
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