East Meets West In American Impressionism

"East Meets West, American Impressionism" features a comparative collection of works by Impressionist artists of the Connecticut and California schools who painted from the turn of the Twentieth Century onward. The exhibition is presented by the Foothills Community Foundation in conjunction with its Sixth Annual Desert Musicfest and will be on view through May 4 at the Fleischer Museum in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Easily the most popular of art movements, owing to its richness of color, light and surface texture, as well a the natural beauty of its subject matter, Impressionism will now be revealed in its truly national scope in America.

On view will be 60 paintings from the collection of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, one of the most important corporate collections in the country. The Hartford collection features painters who lived or worked in Connecticut. Because the state housed some of the earliest and most significant art colonies in the nation, many of America's finest painters worked there. Among those who will be represented in the exhibition are Emile Carlsen, Childe Hassam, Ernest Lawson, Willard Metcalf, Theodore Robinson, J.H. Twachtman, and J. Alden Weir.

The eastern paintings will be shown together with a selection of 60 of the finest American Impressionists from the California school. Selections from the Fleischer Permanent Collection includes works by Maurice Braun, Alson Clark, Arthur Mathews, Hanson Puthuff, Granville Redmond, Charles Reiffel, Arthur Rider, Jack Gage Stark, and William Wendt.

Museum hours are 10 am to 4 pm. There is no admission charge. Concerts, lectures and other events are planned for each Sunday at 2 pm during the exhibition and are free of charge. An illustrated exhibition catalogue and other related publications are available.

The Fleischer Museum is located on 260 acres at the edge of Scottsdale and is part of the Franchise Finance Corporation of America's headquarters. The corporate museum is open free to the public and occupies a red, sandstone building fashioned from native materials. There is a two-story exhibition space and a sky-lit sculpture court.

The museum is the brainchild of Morton Fleischer, founder and president of the corporation, and his wife, Donna, curator of the museum.