One of the remarkable things about art is how it has been passed down intact through time. Like artifacts of ancient civilizations, a painting by a master provides a direct link to a time and place in history. The brush strokes of Rembrandt contain all we need to know about the past.
The same can be said about the melodies of Beethoven or the words of Shakespeare. But there’s something more tangible about paintings, sculptures, and other works of physical art. Whereas we cannot hear Beethoven conduct his celebrated “Ninth Symphony,” or congratulate Shakespeare on a well-turned phrase following a performance of “Macbeth,” we can visit the Louvre in Paris, France and absorb the beauty of Rembrandt’s “Bathsheba.” You can see the actual paint he dabbed on the canvas with the brush he held in his hand.
It’s a remarkable experience. It’s also a rare experience for people who cannot purchase a ticket to Paris, or easily travel to another city where famous art is on display.
This makes the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga that much more of a local treasure. Its walls often contain unimaginable treasures, all of which are accessible to whomever would view them. With the museum’s Free First Sundays, even cost is not a barrier.
It also makes Hunter Museum’s current exhibit, “Monet & American Impressionism,” on view through Sept. 20, that much more of a local treat. People in Chattanooga can visit the museum and absorb the beauty of Claude Monet’s “Champ d’avoine.” They can see the actual paint he dabbed on the canvas with the brush he held in his hand.
The exhibit features several Monet paintings, as well as over two dozen American artists who launched a new way of painting in response to French Impressionism. The exhibition, a collaboration between the Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, Fla., the Telfair Museums in Savannah, Ga., and the Hunter Museum, presents about 50 paintings and 20 prints dated between 1880-1920 by the leading figures in American Impressionism, including Mary Cassat, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf, Theodore Robinson, John Henry Twatchtman, and J. Alden Weir.
Before the exhibit opened, Nandini Makrandi, chief curator at the Hunter Museum, gave me a private tour, which she began by explaining the reasoning behind the inclusion of Monet’s paintings in the exhibit.
“We’re an American art museum,” she said, “and Monet had a huge influence on American impressionists. Our exhibit includes works by people he taught - Americans who went to France, learned from him, and then came back and set up colonies, where they taught the next generation of American impressionists.”
The exhibit includes landscapes, portraits, depictions of women and children, and images of modern life through a variety of thematic sections, the first of which is The Allure of Giverny, which features Monet’s “Champ d’avoine” and Robinson’s “Afternoon Shadows” alongside loaned works by artists who were active in Giverny (Monet’s home) between 1887 and 1919, including Theodore Butler, Frederick Frieseke, Lilla Cabot Perry, and Metcalf.
Monet’s “Champ d’avoine,” a tantalizing painting of a field, is a good place to start when immersing yourself in the works of the Impressionists. Its loose brush strokes, prolific use of textures, and unexpected colors were a departure from the realism artists generally strove to achieve at that time.
As Makrandi walked me through The Allure of Giverny, she explained the context and significance of what I was seeing.
“It was the turn of the century, and things were taking place that were changing the way people looked at the world,” she said. “We were at the brink of technology and industry, cities were getting bigger, and people were moving to the cities but also embracing their love of the country.
“Paintings around this time were realistic. Artists wanted to paint a proper boat and a proper sunrise, and shade them properly. And that’s what the French academies were teaching.
“But Monet was an individualist, so he wanted to paint his impression of a boat and a sunrise. At first, he was ridiculed, and ‘impressionism’ was a derogatory term. People thought impressionists didn’t know how to paint.
“But then other artists caught on to the idea of painting how they wanted to paint instead of being tied to what the French schools were teaching. Americans loved the idea because America is about individualism.”
The tour continued through A Country Retreat, which examines how American artists adapted Impressionist approaches to their paintings of American landscapes. This section includes the Harn’s landscapes by Hassam, alongside loaned works by Monet and American artists John Leslie Breck, Edward Redfield, Twachtman, Chase, and Metcalf.
The Vibrance of Urbanism features works by Monet that demonstrate the interest of the Impressionists in depicting scenes of modern life in the city. This section presents works by William Glackens, Jonas Lie, Gari Melchers, Maurice Prendergast, and Hassam, whose urban subjects celebrate the unique character of major American cities.
The Comfort of Home presents domestic interiors and gardens - spaces in which women played a central role. Here, Monet’s influence can been seen in the work of American artists Mary Cassatt, Joseph De Camp, Frieseke, Melchers, Richard Miller, Edmund Tarbell, and Helen Maria Turner.
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. These artists created etchings, lithographs, and more as an outlet for creative expression and a means to expand their audience to the middle class.
Impressionism can be enjoyed purely on an aesthetic level, or you can engage the works on a more thoughtful level. At one point, as I was gazing at a pink tree trunk, I felt disconnected from the large work. Other than whimsy, what would motivate an artist to paint a tree trunk anything other than brown? Makrandi explained. “He was painting the light on his subject, and at that point, it looked pink,” she said. “Impressionism was about breaking away from what should be and painting what you saw.”
Impressionism lasted only a short while in France, and just a little longer in America. Art does not exist apart from the world, Makrandi said, but within the context in which it is created, and following the onset of World War I, Impressionism no longer felt like an appropriate response to what was taking place. In its place, surrealism began to take hold.
Today, there’s a full century between us and the end of Impressionism. But like Beethoven’s music and Shakespeare’s plays, the classics of the movement have been passed down intact. This has allowed countless organizations and individuals, through considerable effort, to make it possible for people in Chattanooga to step into a spacious and quiet enclave in the Hunter Museum and be transported back to the time and place in which those masterworks were created.
It’s a remarkable experience.
For hours and admission to the Hunter Museum, visit www.huntermuseum.org.
To see more photos, pick up a copy of the Hamilton County Herald.
By David Laprad
One of the remarkable things about art is how it has been passed down intact through time. Like artifacts of ancient civilizations, a painting by a master provides a direct link to a time and place in history. The brush strokes of Rembrandt contain all we need to know about the past.
The same can be said about the melodies of Beethoven or the words of Shakespeare. But there’s something more tangible about paintings, sculptures, and other works of physical art. Whereas we cannot hear Beethoven conduct his celebrated “Ninth Symphony,” or congratulate Shakespeare on a well-turned phrase following a performance of “Macbeth,” we can visit the Louvre in Paris, France and absorb the beauty of Rembrandt’s “Bathsheba.” You can see the actual paint he dabbed on the canvas with the brush he held in his hand.
It’s a remarkable experience. It’s also a rare experience for people who cannot purchase a ticket to Paris, or easily travel to another city where famous art is on display.
This makes the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga that much more of a local treasure. Its walls often contain unimaginable treasures, all of which are accessible to whomever would view them. With the museum’s Free First Sundays, even cost is not a barrier.
It also makes Hunter Museum’s current exhibit, “Monet & American Impressionism,” on view through Sept. 20, that much more of a local treat. People in Chattanooga can visit the museum and absorb the beauty of Claude Monet’s “Champ d’avoine.” They can see the actual paint he dabbed on the canvas with the brush he held in his hand.
The exhibit features several Monet paintings, as well as over two dozen American artists who launched a new way of painting in response to French Impressionism. The exhibition, a collaboration between the Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, Fla., the Telfair Museums in Savannah, Ga., and the Hunter Museum, presents about 50 paintings and 20 prints dated between 1880-1920 by the leading figures in American Impressionism, including Mary Cassat, William Merritt Chase, Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf, Theodore Robinson, John Henry Twatchtman, and J. Alden Weir.
Before the exhibit opened, Nandini Makrandi, chief curator at the Hunter Museum, gave me a private tour, which she began by explaining the reasoning behind the inclusion of Monet’s paintings in the exhibit.
“We’re an American art museum,” she said, “and Monet had a huge influence on American impressionists. Our exhibit includes works by people he taught - Americans who went to France, learned from him, and then came back and set up colonies, where they taught the next generation of American impressionists.”
The exhibit includes landscapes, portraits, depictions of women and children, and images of modern life through a variety of thematic sections, the first of which is The Allure of Giverny, which features Monet’s “Champ d’avoine” and Robinson’s “Afternoon Shadows” alongside loaned works by artists who were active in Giverny (Monet’s home) between 1887 and 1919, including Theodore Butler, Frederick Frieseke, Lilla Cabot Perry, and Metcalf.
Monet’s “Champ d’avoine,” a tantalizing painting of a field, is a good place to start when immersing yourself in the works of the Impressionists. Its loose brush strokes, prolific use of textures, and unexpected colors were a departure from the realism artists generally strove to achieve at that time.
As Makrandi walked me through The Allure of Giverny, she explained the context and significance of what I was seeing.
“It was the turn of the century, and things were taking place that were changing the way people looked at the world,” she said. “We were at the brink of technology and industry, cities were getting bigger, and people were moving to the cities but also embracing their love of the country.
“Paintings around this time were realistic. Artists wanted to paint a proper boat and a proper sunrise, and shade them properly. And that’s what the French academies were teaching.
“But Monet was an individualist, so he wanted to paint his impression of a boat and a sunrise. At first, he was ridiculed, and ‘impressionism’ was a derogatory term. People thought impressionists didn’t know how to paint.
“But then other artists caught on to the idea of painting how they wanted to paint instead of being tied to what the French schools were teaching. Americans loved the idea because America is about individualism.”
The tour continued through A Country Retreat, which examines how American artists adapted Impressionist approaches to their paintings of American landscapes. This section includes the Harn’s landscapes by Hassam, alongside loaned works by Monet and American artists John Leslie Breck, Edward Redfield, Twachtman, Chase, and Metcalf.
The Vibrance of Urbanism features works by Monet that demonstrate the interest of the Impressionists in depicting scenes of modern life in the city. This section presents works by William Glackens, Jonas Lie, Gari Melchers, Maurice Prendergast, and Hassam, whose urban subjects celebrate the unique character of major American cities.
The Comfort of Home presents domestic interiors and gardens - spaces in which women played a central role. Here, Monet’s influence can been seen in the work of American artists Mary Cassatt, Joseph De Camp, Frieseke, Melchers, Richard Miller, Edmund Tarbell, and Helen Maria Turner.
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. These artists created etchings, lithographs, and more as an outlet for creative expression and a means to expand their audience to the middle class.
Impressionism can be enjoyed purely on an aesthetic level, or you can engage the works on a more thoughtful level. At one point, as I was gazing at a pink tree trunk, I felt disconnected from the large work. Other than whimsy, what would motivate an artist to paint a tree trunk anything other than brown? Makrandi explained. “He was painting the light on his subject, and at that point, it looked pink,” she said. “Impressionism was about breaking away from what should be and painting what you saw.”
Impressionism lasted only a short while in France, and just a little longer in America. Art does not exist apart from the world, Makrandi said, but within the context in which it is created, and following the onset of World War I, Impressionism no longer felt like an appropriate response to what was taking place. In its place, surrealism began to take hold.
Today, there’s a full century between us and the end of Impressionism. But like Beethoven’s music and Shakespeare’s plays, the classics of the movement have been passed down intact. This has allowed countless organizations and individuals, through considerable effort, to make it possible for people in Chattanooga to step into a spacious and quiet enclave in the Hunter Museum and be transported back to the time and place in which those masterworks were created.
It’s a remarkable experience.
For hours and admission to the Hunter Museum, visit www.huntermuseum.org. v