“Pasture to Pond: Connecticut Impressionism,” a new exhibit at Greenwich’s Bruce Museum, shows visitors the quality and beauty of this perennially popular art, and highlights Connecticut’s important role in American Impressionism.

By Arthur Stampleman

“Pasture to Pond: Connecticut Impressionism,” a new exhibit at Greenwich’s Bruce Museum, shows visitors the quality and beauty of this perennially popular art, and highlights Connecticut’s important role in American Impressionism.

About two-dozen paintings by 19 artists are exhibited. The artists include important figures such as Childe Hassam (1859–1935), J. Alden Weir (1852–1919), Leonard Ochtman (1854-1934, the Bruce Museum’s first art curator), and John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902). The works come from the Bruce’s permanent collection, private collectors, area museums, and some galleries.

Impressionism can be defined in a number of ways. It’s the style derived from the title of a Claude Monet work (Impressionist Sunrise,1873), which provoked a critic to use the term “Impressionism” in an unflattering review. It also refers to the works that were shown in the eight late 19th century official Impressionist Exhibitions in Paris. More importantly, it’s works then characterized by short, thick brush strokes; quick capture of the essence of the subject, rather than its detail; colors applied side-by-side with as little mixing as possible, creating a vibrant surface; emphasis on the play of natural light; and painting out-of-doors.

The American Impressionists were artists who worked in a similar style and went to Europe to study following the Civil War, but worked primarily in the United States. In contrast to the French, the American Impressionists focused on identifiable places in America and used less black than the Europeans.

Centers of American Impressionism were established in Massachusetts and California but most importantly in Connecticut’s Cos Cob (around 1890) and Old Lyme (around 1900). They established artists’ colonies in those seaside locations mainly in the summer where they taught art classes. The railroad was an important factor in establishing Connecticut as a center for American Impressionism because it allowed artists in New York City easy access to the state’s abundant landscapes.  

The exhibit provides a good opportunity to view the key themes and artists of the movement:

• The move away from the professional academic style that had prevailed in America: Hassam was instrumental in forming The Group of Ten, a move away from the Society of American Artists and promoting Impressionism to American collectors. The Mill Pond, Cos Cob, 1902, is an important example of Hassam’s use of industrial imagery situated amid routine activities of daily life. The work depicts approaching locomotives on the Mianus River railroad bridge in Cos Cob.

• A focus on local scenery: With silvery hues and a gently receding diagonal composition, Weir’s River Scene near Norwich, Connecticut, c. 1910 creates a New England idyll of life on the river in summer. Weir played an important role in establishing Connecticut as a center for American Impressionism in 1888 when he invited Twachtman to join him on his farm near Ridgefield to paint the local landscape.

• Tonalism: this was an artistic style characterized by an overall tone of a colored atmosphere or mist with dark, neutral hues, such as Twachtman’s Gray Day, 1887-88.

• Luminosity – a style characterized by an emphasis on light and removal of signs of brush strokes. On the Mianus River, 1896, by Ochtman, was painted at his studio in Cos Cob on the Mianus River.

American artists continued painting in an Impressionist style through the 1920s, but the movement’s popularity was challenged before then by American realist movements, and by the Armory Show of 1913 that brought an influx of European avant-garde
art.

The show runs until June 22. Hours are 10 to 5 Tuesday to Saturday and 1 to 5 on Sundays. Contact 203-869-0376 or brucemuseum.org. Docents are offered most Fridays at 12:30.