: The enduring appeal of American Impressionism is documented - and
justified - by "The Golden Age of American Impressionism," on
view at the Heckscher Museum of Art through February 1.
Comprising 56 works by 29 US artists, the exhibition has been
expertly organized by esteemed art historian William H. Gerdts,
and it showcases quality works by a who's who of the movement.
This exhibition stylishly reflects the skills and visual beauty
created by our nation's leading practitioners of Impressionism.
Gerdts, professor emeritus of art history at the graduate school
of the City University of New York and author of the best book on
American Impressionism, says this will be his final guest-curated
exhibition. He is also the principal author of the accompanying
book.
In selecting works for the show, Gerdts says he sought art by
painters he considered "the preeminent and most original of the
American Impressionists, and to tell the story of the movement
through those examples." Focusing on the period of
Impressionism's ascendancy in the United States - 1885 to 1920 -
he drew from artists affiliated with European and East Coast art
colonies and regional painters working in the South, Midwest and
West Coast.
There are the expected big names, such as William Merritt Chase,
Childe Hassam and John H. Twachtman, and two expatriate
superstars not always lumped with American Impressionism, Mary
Cassatt and John Singer Sargent. There are also works by lesser
known artists who deserve greater recognition, such as Daniel
Garber, Joseph Raphael, Theodore Robinson, Guy Rose and Theodore
Steele. There are enough masterpieces from major museums, as well
as rarely seen treasures from private collections, to satisfy the
most ardent aficionados of American Impressionism.
