Across the Atlantic: American Impressionism through the French Lens
IMAGE: Arthur Watson Sparks (American, 1870-1919), Quai St. Catherine, Martigue (detail), c. 1910-1919, oil on board, Museum Purchase, Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania.
This extraordinary exhibition, drawn entirely from the collection of the Reading Public Museum, explores the path to Impressionism through the nineteenth century, and the complex relationship between French Impressionism of the 1870s and 80s, and the American interpretation of the style in the decades that followed. More than seventy-five paintings and works on paper help tell the story of the new style of painting which developed at the end of the nineteenth century—one that emphasized light and atmospheric conditions, rapid or loose brushstrokes, and a focus on brightly colored scenes from everyday life. Some of the artists featured in the exhibition include Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, among others, who exhibited in the official Impressionist exhibitions in Paris in the 1870s and 80s. Among the earliest American artists to embrace the style were John Singer Sargent, William Merritt Chase, John Henry Twachtman, Childe Hassam, and Frank W. Benson. Additional American artists embraced the style by the turn of the century, including Daniel Garber, Edward Redfield, Robert Spencer, Arthur Watson Sparks, Robert Lewis Reid, William Paxton, Chauncey Ryder, Frederick John Mulhaupt, and Guy Wiggins, are also highlighted in the exhibition.
Across the Atlantic: American Impressionism through the French Lens is on view March 8, 2019 through June 9, 2019.
Curated for LSUMOA by Courtney Taylor
Artists included
Mary Stevenson Cassatt
Cecilia Beaux
John Singer Sargent
Soren Emile Carlsen
Ernest Lawson
Robert Lewis Reid
John Henry Twachtman
Frederick Childe Hassam
Henry Ward Ranger
Chauncey Foster Ryder
Guy Carleton Wiggins
Charles Paul Gruppe
Charles Webster Hawthorne
Frederick John Mulhaupt
William McGregor Paxton
Harry Aiken Vincent
Nancy Maybin Ferguson
Frank Weston Benson
John Sharman
Richard Summer Meryman
Walter Emerson Baum
John Fulton Folinsbee
Daniel Garber
William Langson Lathrop
Antonio Pietro Martino
Edward Willis Redfield
Charles Rosen
Walter Elmer Schofield
Robert Spencer
Fred Wagner
Charles Morris Young
Willard L. Metcalf
Richard Blossom Farley
Arrah Lee Gaul
Paulette Van Roekens
Arthur Watson Sparks
William Merritt Chase
John La Farge
Augustus Vincent Tack
Francis Hopkinson Smith
John Fabian Carlson
Colin Cooper Campbell
George Agnew Reid
Mary Heister Reid
Edgar Degas
Victor Vignon
Albert Lebourg
Maximilien Luce
Leon-Augustin Lhermitte
Jean Charles Cazin,
Charles François Daubigny
Karl Pierre Daubigny
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Eugène Ciceri
Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña
Felix F. G. P. Ziem
Alexandre René Veron
Pierre Auguste Renoir
Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot
Camille Pissarro
Exhibition Sponsors
This exhibition is supported locally by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lamar III. Programming is generously supported by Art Bridges. Additional local exhibition support is from Taylor Porter, Virginia and John Noland, Lamar Advertising, and the following Annual Exhibition Fund donors: The Imo N. Brown Memorial Fund in memory of Heidel Brown and Mary Ann Brown; Louisiana CAT; Charles Schwing; Alma Lee, H.N. and Cary Saurage Group; The Newton B. Thomas Family/Newtron Group Fund; LSU College of Art & Design; Susanna Atkins McCarthy; Mr. and Mrs. Sanford A. Arst; and the Louisiana Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French. Across the Atlantic: American Impressionism through the French Lens is organized by the Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA.
Upcoming Lectures and Programs
Past Events
Press
Free admission all day and family activities; Curator tour of Across the Atlantic: American Impressionism through the French Lens at 2 p.m. followed by Degas-inspired printmaking and pastel activity 2:30–4:00 p.m.