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On the Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown, MA, see the first post in this series. Sterling Clark (1877-1956) bought not only Renaissance paintings, but many paintings by 19th-century American artists who were still at work while he was a young man. This post is a brief look at some of the highlights of the Clark’s American collection from the late 19th and early 20th centuries: works by Sargent, Homer, Remington, and Cassatt.

This post is available as a video at https://youtu.be/sfOrB7cXGLk .

John Singer Sargent

Sargent, Carolus-Duran, 1879.

Carolus-Duran (1837-1917) was one of Paris’s notable portrait painters. Sargent studied with him in the 1870s, which probably nudged him toward the career in portraiture that soon made Sargent one of America’s most famous painters. This portrait is inscribed the top, in brown on brown: “A mon cher maitre M. Carolus-Duran, son eleve affectione, John S. Sargent 1879” (“To my dear master Carolus-Duran, your affectionate student”).

Above: Sargent, Fumée d’ambre gris (Smoke of Ambergris), 1880. A woman holds part of her garment over her head, the better to capture the smoke from burning ambergris – a waxy substance from sperm whales used for medicines, perfumes, and religious rituals, and also believed to be an aphrodisiac. Exactly what this woman is seeking from the ambergris is left to the viewer’s inclination.

This 4.5-foot-high painting at the Clark Art Institute was created when Sargent was 24 years old. His bold brushstrokes might make you think think he dashed off paintings rapidly, without thought. But the Metropolitan Museum has a sheet with 7 sketches of this woman’s left hand, which vary only in the placement of the pinky finger. And: Sargent manages to tell us this is a far-off place simply by showing one exotic-looking column and a tiled floor; it takes thought to reduce a setting to such suggestive essentials. And: Sargent manages to draw our attention on the woman’s face – a small part of the painting – by increasing the amount of detail in that area (more to look at means we look longer), and by contrasting the warm color of her skin with her pale costume. This painting was not just dashed off.

Sargent began this painting in Tangier (Morocco), but finished it in a Paris studio. Sterling Clark acquired the work in 1914, when Sargent was at the height of his fame. The Clark owns a dozen oils by Sargent, making it a must-visit for Sargent fans.

George Inness

Inness, The Road to the Village, Milton, 1880.

The painters of the Hudson River School – Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt, and others – painted landscapes showing spectacular American scenery. My favorite work by Inness (1825-1894) is The Lackawanna Valley, 1855, which is very much in the Hudson River School style. It shows the original roundhouse of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad set amid lush farmland.

As Inness grew older, his works were influenced by contemporary French landscapes of the Barbizon School. Instead of spectacular views, they show somewhat blurry, non-specific places. Since I grew up on a farm in the Northeast, Inness’s slice-of-normal landscapes (including The Road to the Village, above) are sometimes comfortingly familiar. But hang a group of them in the same room, and I’m ready to move right along.

But I’d rather not move on to a painting such as Inness’s Autumn in Montclair, ca. 1894.

This work, created about 15 years after Road to the Village, shows Inness’s later painting technique. He paints the scene, then wipes across it with a paint-covered rag to blur the details. I hesitated about using the photo above, because it’s obvious from the frame details that I didn’t quite get the photo in focus. But the image on the Clark’s site is so dark it’s indecipherable!

By the time Inness painted Autumn in Montclair, he was famous. At the 1893 Columbian Exposition 15 of his paintings were on display. Only Winslow Homer equaled that number.

Winslow Homer

Homer, Undertow, 1886.

Homer began his career during the Civil War, as an illustrator of scenes from everyday life. Eventually he devoted his time almost exclusively to works that centered on the sea. Undertow, based on an event Homer witnessed near Atlantic City, shows rescuers pulling ashore two women who’ve nearly drowned.

At the Columbian Exposition in 1893, Homer had 15 paintings on display – a number equaled only by George Inness. Sterling Clark considered Homer to be the greatest American artist. Beginning in 1915, Clark purchased wood engravings, etchings, watercolors, and drawings as well as paintings by Homer.

Homer, West Point, Prout’s Neck 1900.

Homer moved to Prouts Neck, Maine, in 1883. He said that this work – which he considered one of his best – was “painted fifteen minutes after sunset – not one minute before.” It’s one of my favorite paintings at the Clark.

Frederic Remington

Remington, Dismounted: The Fourth Troopers Moving the Led Horses, 1890.

Today Remington (1861-1909) is one of the most famous painters of the frontier … but this is an early work. By 1893, he still wasn’t notable enough to have a single work on display at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In Dismounted, he shows a scene from a cavalry battle in the West. It’s fascinating because the horses are unique, but the faces of their riders are rather similar.

Although Remington’s time in the West provided him with much material for his works, he noted: “My drawing is done entirely from memory. I never use a camera now. The interesting never occurs in nature as a whole, but in pieces. It’s more what I leave out than what I add.” (Quote from Wikipedia.)

Remington, Friends or Foes? (The Scout), 1902-1905. Remington was also capable of quiet, thoughtful scenes. Here a Blackfoot scout peers into the distance, wondering if those in distant the camp will welcome him or not.

Mary Cassatt

Cassatt, Child with Red Hat, ca. 1904. Cassatt (1844-1926) moved to Paris in 1866, and spent much of the rest of her life there. She’s associated with the Impressionists. Her particular niche was scenes of mothers and children. This pastel portrait is one of a series showing young girls in fashionably elaborate hats.

More

• I’ve written about the 19th century in French art in Seismic Shifts in Subject and Style: 19th-Century French Painting and Philosophy. It’s a good place to start it if you’re interested in the changes in art during that period, and especially if you’re interested in what major artists think about the role of training in art, the role of reason vs. emotion in creating art, the importance of style vs. subject, and who’s qualified to judge art.
• For more posts on museums, click this tag.
• Want wonderful art delivered weekly to your inbox? Check out my Sunday Recommendations list and rewards for recurring support: details here. For examples of favorite recommendations from past years, click here.