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More American art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The introduction to this series, about the Wadsworth family and the Wadsworth Atheneum, is here. For all posts in the series, click here.

Autumn Gold: Inness, 1888

Inness (1825-1894) favored diffused light and soft colors, in sharp (soft?) contrast to the painters of the Hudson River School. This one has an autumn mood that makes me feel like curling up with a mug of hot chocolate.

Shinnecock Hills: Chase, 1891

Shinnecock, on the South Fork of Long Island, was attracting wealthy visitors from New York City long before the Hamptons became the summer home of the rich and famous. William Merritt Chase, a well-known contemporary of John Singer Sargent, was director of the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art. In this oil sketch, Chase cleverly uses the beige canvas to represent sand. The note at lower left says: “Sketch made to illustrate one way to begin a study. Wm. M. Chase, Shinnecock Hills, 1891.”

Ceramic Tiles, ca. 1902-1910

Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922) was so struck by Japanese art in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, that he began teaching courses on Japanese composition, color, and light to his students. Among them was Georgia O’Keeffe. Neighboring Arts and Crafts potteries adopted many of Dow’s designs for tiles such as the one on the left above. The turtle tile only made the cut for this post because it makes me realize how much better Marsh Scene is.

On the other hand, these two small tiles (5×5 inches or so), whose designs are attributed to the same artist as the turtle above, are quite lovely. Without their frames, though, they’d feel much less … what? Important? Monumental? Oh, I know: a frame says (even, or perhaps especially, for a small work), “Pay attention: this is a work of art.”

Flight of Night: Manship, 1916

Manship (1885-1966) created wonderfully stylized, elegant figures, most famously the Prometheus at Rockefeller Center. For the many other works by Manship in New York City, see the list at the end of the Prometheus post.

American Synchromy No. 1 (Green) – Male Torso: Macdonald-Wright, 1919

Macdonald-Wright (1890-1973) studied in Paris, where he met Morgan Russell. The two of them shared an interest in painting form created by color alone, without outlines, a style they dubbed “Synchronism” (“with color”). I’m not fond of the sort of art that requires theoretical explanations and comes with arcane titles (American Synchromy No. 1 [Green] – Male Torso). But as compared to Macdonald-Wright’s other works, this one suggests that the artist knows anatomy and is trying to convey an emotional state via physical action. (Side note: Willard Huntington Wright, Stanton Macdonald-Wright’s brother, wrote the Philo Vance detective novels, under the pseudonym S.S. Van Dine.)

Next week: more highlights from the Wadsworth Atheneum.

Wadsworth posts on American art

When I visited the Wadsworth, visitors were sent through the galleries in reverse chronological order due to social distancing. If you’d rather read the posts in order (seventeenth through twentieth centuries), the sequence would be as follows. Part 1 is the introduction to the series.

• part 12: 16th to early 19th centuries, including Copley, Trumbull, and Earl
• part 2: late 18th c., including Copley and Earl

• part 3: early and mid-19th c., early Hudson River School, including Cole and Church
• part 11: mid-19th c., including the Colt legacy and the Charter Oak
• part 4: mid-19th c., including Church and Bierstadt
• part 6: late 19th c. painting and sculpture, including Church, Remington, and Bierstadt
• part 5: late 19th c. painting, including Church and Heade
• part 9: late 19th and early 20th c. painting and sculpture
• part 10: late 19th and early 20th c. sculpture, including MacMonnies and Frishmuth
• part 8: early and mid-20th c. painting and sculpture, including Andrew Wyeth
• Part 7: survey of images of Niagara Falls, from the 17th to 21st centuries, including Trumbull, Cole, Bierstadt, and Church.

More

• In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon print and Kindle formats.
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