"Summer," 1909. Oil on
canvas from the collection of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island
School of Design.
SALEM, MASS. - The Peabody Essex Museum scored a major coup with
"The Art of Frank Benson, American Impressionist." The exhibition
includes some beautiful Impressionist works depicting patrician
life that conform to public expectations for works by Frank W.
Benson (1862-1951).
Other works display aspects of Benson's ouevre that have not been
viewed by the public for 60 years. Catalog essays by guest
curator Faith Andrews Bedford and co-curator Dean Lahikainen,
curator of American decorative arts, also provide fresh,
insightful perspectives on Benson's goals, inspirations, and
paintings. Visitors will enjoy a beautiful show while gaining a
broader and deeper appreciation for Benson's work.
The teenage Frank Benson aspired to be an ornithological
illustrator, and he pursued that career by attending the Museum
School at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1880-1883). Following
graduation, Benson traveled to Paris, where he studied at the
Acadèmie Julian (1883-1885). When he returned to America, he
opened a portrait studio in Boston. The full blossom of Benson's
career coincided with rebellion within the traditional Society of
American Artists. Benson and nine like-minded artists created The
Ten American Painters (now recalled as The Ten) that held an
annual exhibition starting in 1898. Benson later became America's
most important sporting artist and revived American interest in
etching.
Curator Lahikainen recalled, "When we looked at the works we had
selected for exhibition, the obvious central theme was that
Benson always painted light. This can be seen in the paintings
themselves, and also in the quotes that his daughter, Eleanor
recorded as her father instructed her about painting. Her notes
are full of his advice dealing with light such as 'Follow the
light, where it comes from and where it goes.' Benson was a
master of painting light rather than objects."
Visitors will enjoy observing the range of technical challenges
that Benson pursued. Groups of related paintings hanging in
proximity to each other induce viewers to compare and contrast;
they soon become aware of fundamental differences within a group.
For example, among the plein air paintings, "Study of a Young
Girl with a Veil" is the only work with a veiled model. One
quickly realizes that painting a face through a veil presents a
host of technical problems and marvels at the effective solution
the Benson devised. Observant visitors soon discover that part of
Benson's joy in painting came from creating challenging problems
and then devising clever solutions.
"The Silver Screen," 1921. Oil on canvas from the collection of
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
At the prime of his career, Benson's national reputation was
largely based upon his body of plein air works. The group of
eight plein air paintings in this exhibit is the largest assembly
of such works since World War II. Their palettes include four
works having high-keyed colors, two works utilizing middle tones,
and two works using low-keyed colors. These works are excellent
and interesting examples of American Impressionism.
Benson's plein air paintings usually include models -
particularly his daughters and their friends - but they are
atmospheric paintings, not portraits. Benson painted light to
express the atmosphere of the New England coast and the
experience of young people in natural settings. The models are
props that served as a basis for Benson to paint light.
From 1898 to 1918, The Ten presented an annual exhibit of their
works, and Benson often featured his plein air works in that
show. Other members of the group were Edmund Tarbell, Joseph De
Camp, Childe Hassam, Robert Reid, J. Alden Weir, John Twachtman,
Willard Metcalf, Thomas Dewing, and Edward Simmons.
Two qualities that separate Benson's work from that of his
American contemporaries are the motion and spontaneity of his
figures. For example, in "Child in Sunlight" the viewer is
tempted to reach and assist the toddler as she pitches forward
trying to climb the coastal hill. The viewer senses that the
three models in "Girls in the Garden" are spontaneously working
as their hands prune, pick and sort flowers. The viewer
intuitively experiences the gust the pulls the veil to the right
in "Study for Young Girl with a Veil." In contrast, other
American Impressionists rendering similar settings often used
stationary figures.
Benson's initial period of plein air painting occurred during the
summers of 1889 to 1892 in Dublin, N.H. That was followed with
summers in New Castle, N.H. from 1893 to 1899, and Ogunquit, Me.
in 1900. In 1901, Benson purchased the Wooster farm in North
Haven, Me., and that became his primary location for plein air
oil painting.
Studies and Divided Pictures
Benson often painted the same scene in three different types of
works, and examples of all three types are displayed at this
exhibit. After having painted an oil study and a major painting,
Benson sometimes painted smaller works with details of the major
painting. The artist's great granddaughter Faith Andrews Bedford
wrote a 1995 article in American Art Review about these
"divided paintings." She stated, "With few exceptions, no other
American painter of Benson's time was known to have employed this
technique, nor was it found commonly among the European artists
of the day."
Bedford wrote, "Given strong historical documentation, close
comparisons of the paintings, conversations with family members,
and letters regarding the works, it appears that with one
exception, Benson created his large groupings first, then copied
the individual figures into separate finished paintings."
One of the divided pictures, "In Summer" is exhibited in this
show. This work is closely related to his painting "Summer, 1909"
at the Rhode Island School of Design that depicts four young
ladies on a seaside cliff. Writing about the relationship between
these paintings, Bedford commented, "After Benson completed
'Summer,' Elisabeth and Anna, the two figures on the left, became
the central focus of 'In Summer.' On a canvas nearly as tall as
the original work, Benson exhibits a tighter composition and a
more finished treatment of the two girls. Benson made subtle
changes in the smaller work...and provided a greater sense of
rapport with the sitters."
Antiques In Benson Interiors
From an antiquarian perspective, the most interesting element of
this show was the discovery by curator Dean Lahikainen that
Benson was an antiques collector, and that his interiors were
composed with a sensitivity to antiques. Many New England artists
who were active during the Colonial Revival period painted early
interiors. These artists routinely showed early architecture and
objects, but with a Victorian excess.
A typical painting of the era was Frank Shapleigh's (American,
1842-1906) rendering of the sitting room of the John Alden house.
Period antiques sat on the mantel, but they were massed in the
manner of Victorian clutter. In contrast, Benson's interior
paintings show early Twentieth Century interiors decorated
sparsely with early antiques.
Frank Benson led a charmed life, and one lucky coincidence was
that his boyhood neighbor was one of the first scholars of
American decorative arts. Curator Lahikainen discovered that
Henry Fitz Gilbert Waters was a valued mentor who often tutored
the Benson children in the evening. Waters packed his large house
with Salem and Boston antiques before the antiques craze
triggered the bicentennial celebration. That craze induced all
the leading architects of the Colonial Revival style to take
Salem field trips, and eventually they all sought the advice of
Henry Waters.
Waters also tutored other local families, such the Littles who
summered in Swampscott. Their sons, Arthur, Philip, and David
Mason Little, also developed a keen interest in antiques. David
Mason Little passed that interest along to his son Bertram Little
who became a rather distinguished collector in his own right.
Sporting Art
Late in his career, Frank Benson returned his boyhood interest in
ornithological illustration. Following the 1913 Amory Show many
artists stampeded to join the new "isms," but Benson quietly
moved to revolutionize the field of American sporting art. His
rendering of wildlife, hunting, fishing, and camping infused the
field with a heightened artistic sensitivity, and reinvigorated a
tradition-burdened field.
Historical accounts indicate that Benson's teenage bird studies
were extremely realistic. We can infer that they were similar to
works by Alexander Pope (American, 1849-1924) and Louis Agassiz
Fuertes (American, 1874-1927). Those painters concentrated on
painting objects with precision. Each blue jay painted by Fuertes
had exactly the same color tones and pattern. This is realism in
the sense that twelve jays in a cage look precisely the same.
In contrast, Benson's artistic training brought him to realize
that a viewer's experience of a jay's appearance varies with the
tint of light cast by the sky, whether the jay is front lit or
backlit, and the background. Furthermore, Benson realized that we
did not perceive the precise feather pattern of a bird at a
distance of 20 feet. Benson had learned that our eyes perceive
light, not objects, and he introduced that realization into the
sporting art field. Other artists such as Roland Clark, A. L.
Ripley, and Richard Bishop quickly followed his lead.
The most unanticipated - and therefore the most surprising -
works in the show are the large oil paintings of outdoor scenes.
The public has never seen most of these privately owned
masterpieces. "Hunter in a Boat, 1915" is a beautiful and moving
work that captures the luminous glow of sunrise over a wave
tossed sea with a single rower headed for the line of flight
favored by passing sea ducks.
"Dory Fishermen, 1941" is a splendid high-keyed Impressionist
painting in the manner of Monet. Seen in isolation this work
would likely be classified as a plein air work. However, the
figures in one dory are believed to be Frank Benson and his teen
son George. Since George was a teenager around 1910, we can infer
that to some extent this 1941 work was created as a recollection,
perhaps with the aid of photographs. It shows them harvesting
mackerel from weirs immediately off the Wooster farm.
Visitors who have traveled the Canadian coast from Northern New
Brunswick, across Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula, and up to Labrador
will immediately recognize the tinted glow Benson captured in
"Twilight, 1930." A lone figure stands in a canoe drifting in
calm water that meanders through a mountainous landscape. The
fisherman searches for a salmon pool into which he can cast.
Benson's introduction to watercolors came in 1920 when he was
almost 60 years old. At the prodding of his son, he took a set of
watercolors on a salmon-fishing trip to Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula.
He suddenly discovered that the medium was ideally suited to his
sure, quick manner of painting and ideal for capturing light
effects. Over the next three decades he completed over 600
watercolors.
Benson watercolors are seldom seen in the market and their
exhibition in museums is limited. This show features 15
outstanding works. The public will appreciate their beauty and
energy. Watercolor specialists will recognize his deft handling
of the medium; they will be dazzled by two winter landscapes that
make extensive use of the white of the paper. The interest
aroused by the watercolors in this exhibit might possibly trigger
a follow-up exhibit devoted exclusively to Benson watercolors.
Benson inscribed his first etching plate as a student at the
Museum School, and he created his second etching in 1912 at the
age of fifty. During the next three decades he created over three
hundred etchings. Casual observers may think the subjects of his
etchings are waterfowl, fishing, and canoeing, but a careful
reading of Benson's titles shows they often referred to light
conditions. Some titles in this exhibition are "Morning
Sunlight," "Dusk," and "After Sunset." As in his other work,
Benson strove to capture light effects, not specific objects. Six
decades after he pulled his last etching, Benson continues to be
regarded as one of America's preeminent etchers.
Benson And The Federal Duck Stamp
The Federal Duck Stamp Program is considered one of the Twentieth
Century's most successful conservation programs. In addition to
saving waterfowl species and habitat, it served as a model for
hundreds of other conservation programs around the world. The
program was the controversial brainchild of Pulitzer
Prize-winning cartoonist Jay "Ding" Darling. An avid duck hunter,
Darling left journalism to serve as Chief of the Biological
Survey with the hope that it was yet possible to conserve
America's radically declining waterfowl population. To fund
needed conservation programs, Darling developed the duck stamp
program, and he designed the first duck stamp.
"Great White Herons," 1933. Oil on canvas from the collection
of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
In 1934 Darling recognized that the continuation of the duck
stamp program required a change in the public perception that the
stamp was on onerous, burdensome imposition of the New Deal. He
also sought to sell the stamp to some people who were not duck
hunters. In an effort to elevate the status of the embattled
program, Darling asked Frank Benson, the nation's foremost
wildlife artist, to create the second duck stamp. Benson
responded by etching a scene depicting a trio of canvasback
drakes approaching splashdown.
That charitable act initiated an artistic tradition that has
since become a cornerstone of the duck stamp program and all the
derivative conservation programs. Benson's cooperation with that
fledging program accelerated the evolution of American sporting
art.
Studio Portraits
The most common Benson works on the market are portraits. For 24
years from September through May, Benson's life was centered in
Boston, where he taught at the Museum School and maintained a
painting studio whose mainstay was portraiture. Patrician clients
filled his schedule. While he appreciated having a steady source
of income, he found the experience repetitive and burdensome.
The best of Benson's portraits are generally those that he gave
as gifts and the sitters are relatives or friend. In these
portraits Benson demonstrated an inspiration for creative
painting. Often he borrowed from precedents painted by other
artists. At this show there are examples the can be immediately
linked to works by Vermeer, Copley, Sargent, and Hopper.
Peabody Essex Museum is at East India Square. The exhibition
is on view through February 18, 2001. Hours are Tuesday to
Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, Sunday noon to 5 pm. For information,
978/745-9500.
