Matilda Browne: Idylls of Farm and Garden
February 10 through
May 28, 2017
Matilda Browne’s (1869–1947) talent was apparent from an early age. By the time she was nine, she had begun informal study with her neighbor Thomas Moran. As an adult, she exhibited widely and won prestigious awards. The only woman accepted as a peer by the male artists of the Lyme Art Colony, she was given the honor of being invited to paint a pair of door panels in the Florence Griswold House.
In Greenwich, CT where she lived most of her adult life, she was a founder of the Greenwich Society of Artists and exhibited in all of their annuals from the first, in 1912, through 1931. The exhibition, her first ever at the Florence Griswold Museum, and its accompanying catalogue enabled the rediscovery of a significant artist.
Throughout her career, Browne favored two themes: animals and flowers. Visitors to the exhibition traced her shift in style from highly accomplished academic depictions of farm animals to atmospheric Barbizon-influenced canvases. Her Impressionist style is most evident in sparkling paintings of gardens as well as in still lifes of lush bouquets.
This exhibition was organized by Susan G. Larkin, PhD, independent art historian and author.
Matilda Browne, Peonies, Ca. 1907, Oil on Board, 11 by 14 inches. Florence Griswold Museum
Matilda Browne, In Voorhees’ Garden, 1914, Oil on Canvas, 18×24 inches. Florence Griswold Museum
Matilda Browne, Miss Florence’s, Oil on Board, 11×14 inches. Florence Griswold Museum
