Impressionism 150: From Paris to Connecticut & Beyond
In 2024 the world celebrated the sesquicentennial of the first independent exhibition of the French Impressionists, marking 150 years since the “Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers, etc.” opened in Paris on April 15, 1874. The Museum’s permanent collection contains many treasures through which to tell the story of Impressionism, how it traveled across the ocean, and how audience reactions shifted over time.
Impressionism 150 located the role of Connecticut artists and settings in this narrative. What did Connecticut artists think of Impressionism, and how did that evolve? Which artists and critics were driving the roller coaster of responses that began with disparagement, turned to appreciation, dropped in favor of abstraction, and then peaked in blockbuster exhibitions?
Works created by artists in both French and Connecticut settings were juxtaposed, and new acquisitions highlighted alongside gifts by Lyme Colony artists to Florence Griswold. A recent gift, La Paresse, which Lawton Parker painted in Giverny and brought to Old Lyme, was featured to consider different perspectives on the nude in French and American contexts as it relates to Impressionism, and to explore the impact of French Impressionist colonies on their American counterparts.
Lawton Parker, La Paresse, 1913. Oil on canvas, 50 x 60 in. Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of the M. Christine Schwartz Collection, 2023.23.1
Robert Vonnoh, Beside the River (Grez), 1890. Oil on canvas, 18 x 22 in. Florence Griswold Museum, Purchase with additional gifts from Jonathan D. Carlisle and Charles T. Clark, 2022.17
Mary Bradish Titcomb, Morning at Boxwood, ca. 1910. Oil on canvas, 36 3/4 x 28 1/4 in. Florence Griswold Museum, Purchase, 2019.30
Childe Hassam, Across the Common on a Winter Evening, ca. 1885-1886. Oil in panel, 5 1/8 in. x 11 5/8 in. Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, 2002.1.70
Theodore Robinson (1852–1896), Autumn Sunlight, 1888. Oil on canvas. Gift of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company
This exhibition has been made possible by generous support from Traditional Fine Arts Organization, CT Humanities, the Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts, HSB, The David T. Langrock Foundation, The Aeroflex Foundation, Barbara & Wayne Harms, Keith & Elaine Knowlton, Richard & Barbara Booth, Bouvier Insurance, Peter & Karen Cummins, Jeb & Dianne Embree, Val Koif & Richard Cersosimo, Virginia & Timothy Milllhiser, Deborah & Roy Moore, Guido & Diane Petra, Luanne Rice, Thomas & Cynthia Sculco, Barbara Smith, The Cooley Gallery, MaryBeth Marx, and Jane Chestnutt & Mallory Rintoul, as well as donors to the Annual Fund.
