Willard L. Metcalf, Kalmia, 1905. Oil on canvas, 34 x 34 in. Museum Purchase through The Nancy B. Krieble Acquisition Fund, with the support of Geddes and Kathy Parsons; The Dorothy Clark Archibald Acquisition Fund; Helen E. Krieble; V. J. Dowling; Max and Sally Belding; Richard and Barbara Booth; Mr. and Mrs. David W. Dangremond; Charles and Irene Hamm; William E. Phillips and Barbara Smith; Andy Baxter; Charles T. Clark; Jonathan L. Cohen; Jim and Hedy Korst; Mr. and Mrs. S. Van Vliet Lyman; Clement C. and Elizabeth Moore; Robert and Betsey Webster; Renée Wilson; Peter and Karen Cummins, and a small group of members. 2009.10
Willard L. Metcalf
1858–1925
Encouraged by his friend and fellow Impressionist Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf first arrived in Old Lyme in May 1905 to spend the summer at Miss Florence Griswold’s boardinghouse. Kalmia depicts the mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) that blooms along the banks of the Lieutenant River each June. Metcalf was so pleased with Kalmia that he chose to exhibit it widely, starting in Old Lyme and continuing across America.
Critics instantly recognized the painting’s significance: “Willard Metcalf is at his best in Kalmia,” one wrote, “with its flowering bushes at the side of a stream, the delicacy of the pink and white blossoms being caught with tenderness and feeling, the result being a picture having much of the poetry of nature.” The acclaim Metcalf received for the picture encouraged other painters to take up the Kalmia motif, making it a signature subject for the Lyme Art Colony.
