Text d. Realism versus Modernism versus Tradition,

1900-1920

As early as the 1890s, the critic Hamlin Garland began calling for a means of expression that was American in subject matter and style and not based on European traditions. He also called for a rejection of the tradition of elegant and refined gentility in favor of themes from real life – even from the seamier side of life.

A new kind of painting in America also emerged, one that was not genteel, but drew its vitality from the life of the streets. It was truly American and largely free of European influences. Like the new literature, it was based in a vigorous new realism. The paintings meshed perfectly with the newfound interest in ordinary people, especially those of the working class, and often paralleled the new novels about the daily street life of urban America. With this social and literary background, the emergence of the Ashcan school was perhaps inevitable.

Realism, or the appearance of reality in the painted image, had long been the main tradition in American art, from Copley and Peale to Eakins and Homer, and so on into the twentieth century with artists such as John Sloan and Andrew Wyeth.

In their own form of rebellion against the Beaux-Arts style of painting of the late nineteenth century, the artists of the so-called Ashcan school revitalized the realist tradition in the decade or so before World War I. Their response to the modern world was to choose common street scenes and the bawdy life instead of lofty, rarefied themes from the mythology and literature of bygone times. Somewhat later, painters of the Regionalist schools, such as Thomas Hart Benton, John Stuart Curry, and Grant Wood, painted scenes of Midwestern life, again with new styles that broke with tradition.

The preference for naturalism in art in America, however, was challenged with the invasion of modernism in the second decade of the new century. No longer was the artist obligated to recreate the physical world – suddenly, the concept of abstraction of form, color, and light was taken up, at first among only a few artists, patrons, and critics, but then, in the 1920s and 1930s, with an outburst of the enthusiasm that characterizes spiritual conversion.

The history of American painting during the first four decades of the century therefore consists of two parallel traditions – realism and abstraction. The former seemed to arise naturally out of America itself, while the latter followed the lead of the dynamic European experiments in visual imagery.

Whichever tradition a painter belonged to, this was a period of new ways of seeing, new ways of painting, of fresh, new attitudes about art for art's sake. The group known as The Eight, most of whom were of the new realism, caused as much of an uproar when they held their first exhibition in 1908 as the modernists did when they had their exhibition at the Armory Show five years later. Both traditions, each in its own way, challenged an art establishment that had long been committed to a genteel art in the Beaux-Arts manner. Critics decried the vulgarization of art on the one hand, and the insanity and anarchy of modern art on the other.

The story of the realist tradition of this period begins with Robert Henri (1865-1929). Henri was raised in the Midwest, and studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy in Philadelphia, being instructed in the curriculum established by Thomas Eakins. A trip to Paris introduced Henri to the academic style of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but he soon turned to Impressionism as a preferred way of painting. However, Impressionism, too, soon seemed inadequate, and at that point Henri discovered the work of the great seventeenth-century realists Velazquez and Hals, as well as the more contemporary work of Manet and Whistler.

Returning to Philadelphia, Henri began to acquire a reputation as a painter and a teacher, especially among a group of young newspaper illustrators who gathered around him. This group included future members of The Eight – John Sloan, Everett Shinn, William Glackens, and George Luks. No small part of Henri's attraction was his defiance of the art establishments – his rebellion against what had become, he contended, a vapid Impressionism, and against the moribund academic approach of the Pennsylvania Academy and the National Academy.

In 1900, Robert Henri settled in New York City. His change of style is seen in West Fifty-seventh Street, New York (1902, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut) in which the light, pastel-hued palette of Impressionism has been replaced by the darker tones of Hals, Rembrandt, and Velazquez. The impressionist technique, too, has given way to a loose, painterly application in broad, rapid strokes.

Henri accepted city life for what it was – often drab and grimy, but always throbbing with vitality. For all its clutter, seediness, and filth, West Fifty-seventh Street is exemplary of the artistic legacy he would pass on to a generation of younger painters.

The realism and informality of Henri's style are seen in the portrait of his artist-friend George Luks (1904, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa). Henri's representation of Luks attacked the traditional academic insistence on the gentility of art and its separation from real life. Its brusque, forthright reality appealed greatly to young men such as Sloan, Luks, Shinn, and Glackens, all of whom – as illustrators for newspapers – were more accustomed to depicting real life than romantic fantasy. In the portrait, a careless informality new to portraiture is created by Luks's cigarette, the disheveled old brown robe, and his rumpled hair. Henri's technique suggests the robust, slovenly character of his subject, making this portrait quite different from, say, Sargent's Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes.

Henri continued to be the mentor and rallying force around which younger, but equally rebellious, artists gathered. Sloan, Luks, Glackens, and Shinn followed him to New York from Philadelphia, and others such as Arthur B. Davies and Maurice Prendergast soon joined the group.

Henri advocated an artistic freedom, a search for one's personal means of expression and for truth in art. The Academy, on the other hand, sought beauty, but beauty that seemed unrelated to real life and therefore deprived of its vigor. Henri defended vulgarity and ugliness in art – because they are present in life, they are therefore legitimate in art. He opened his own school, where he instituted his innovative teaching methods.

When some of his young friends had their work rejected for the annual National Academy show in 1904, Henri, in a bold stroke, immediately organized a show of their own. It was, however, the 1908 exhibition at the Macbeth Gallery in New York City that brought about the group known as The Eight. The group comprised Henri, Sloan, Glackens, Lawson, Luks, Shinn, Davies, and Prendergast.

These men never coalesced into a unified school and never again exhibited together as The Eight – they practiced, in fact, widely divergent styles. But they were, at that moment, united in their angry defiance of the National Academy. Because of the subject matter in some of their pictures, representing the cluttered, shabby street scenes of the city, some members were later dubbed the Ashcan school. However, the terms “The Eight” and the “Ashcan school” cannot be used synonymously.

Critical reviews of the exhibition recognized the rebellious spirit and the new modes of painting that challenged the old guard of the National Academy. There was such interest in the show that it was sent on tour to Philadelphia and eight other cities.

Henri's organizational efforts continued with another show, the Exhibition of Independent Artists in 1910, which brought additional pressure on the National Academy to liberalize its policies toward the younger artists and their work.

Henri's immediate followers were now free to paint the street people of the sidewalks of New York in an unromanticized realism that suited the subject matter. Tenement backyards were as acceptable as grand boulevards, and the neighborhood saloon was more interesting than the fashionable salon. Painting was free of academic restraints – free to respond to the urban environment in a way it never had before, in a manner that novelists such as Stephen Crane, Upton Sinclair, and Frank Norris had already done for a decade or more.

Henri urged John Sloan (1871-1951) to paint the life of Philadelphia, the city he knew so intimately. Sloan began his career as a staff artist for a newspaper and was familiar with the realities of the urban scene. His illustrations for The Inquirer and The Press bore the sensuous line of Art Nouveau and the decorative patterning of Japanese woodcuts that characterized the poster style of the 1890s. For a year Sloan studied at the Pennsylvania Academy under Thomas Anshutz, while he and his illustrator-friends met regularly at Henri's Philadelphia studio.

About the time he moved to New York City, following Henri there in 1904, Sloan was very interested in the technique of etching. One of his best known works is Fifth Avenue Critics, (1905, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware) a satirical indictment of a snobbish wealthy class.

Sloan's ideological inclinations were socialistic, and he was far more concerned with the masses than with the elite. While Sloan's work gradually gained favor and recognition, in the early years of his career he faced the outrage and denunciations encountered by any rebel who threatens the establishment.

Unlike his etchings, most of Sloan's paintings avoided satire to concentrate on an uncritical representation of some passing moment of everyday urban experience, as in The Wake of the Ferry II (1907, The Philips Collection, Washington. D.C.). The low-keyed tonality contributes to the all-pervading cheerlessness of the scene. In the shadowy figure at the right, one senses a disturbing isolation and loneliness within an overpopulated city. There is a freedom in the brushstrokes that suggests the spontaneity with which Sloan worked. If the picture seems uncomposed by academic standards, it is because Sloan was applying journalistic principles – observing a passing scene, reporting on the pastimes of humanity – without making humanity conform to the 'rules' of art.

William James Glackens (1870-1938), is a famous American painter, born in Philadelphia, and educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Starting his career as a newspaper and magazine illustrator, Glackens became a realistic painter of the group called The Eight. His dark-hued works marked a turning away from lofty academic subjects to scenes of everyday life. Later, as a result of his travels in France, Glackens's works became lighter, influenced by the impressionists, especially the French painter and sculptor Pierre Auguste Renoir. Glackens's best-known works include Luxembourg Gardens (1904, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.), Washington Square (1914, Museum of Modern Art, New York City), and Promenade (1926, Detroit Institute of Arts).When the Society of Independent Artists was organized in 1917, Glackens was elected its first president.

 PRACTICE

 Comprehension Check

Activity 1. Scan the texts about the greatest artists of the United States of America and complete the profile of each painter:

The most important dates in the artist's life and career

The most important events in the artist's life and career

The most famous and spectacular works of art

Epithets and terms to characterize the peculiarities of the artist's style and manner of painting, his artistic achievements

Phonetic transcription of the most important proper nouns

Activity 2. How carefully have you read the texts? Answer the questions and provide your commentaries if necessary:

1. What can you say about the historical background against which American art developed?

2. Try to enumerate all the characteristics of American art mentioned in the texts. What are the most vivid innovations fostered by the American artists? Don't forget to provide your ideas with illustrations from the texts.

3. Do you agree with the statement that ‘a buoyant, optimistic spirit is often present in American pictures’? Why?

4. Dwell on the characteristic subjects and technical peculiarities of the American painting at the end of the 18^th – the beginning of the 19^th centuries. What significant innovations were facilitated by the representatives of the period?

5. What are the most characteristic features of the Hudson River School painting? What are the names of its major artists? Don't forget to provide your commentaries with illustrations from the text.

6. Why did landscape painting attract the majority of American artists?

7. The end of the 19^th century in American art is often referred to as the American Renaissance. How can it be explained? Comment on the peculiarities of the period.

8. What can you say about a famous American woman-painter Mary Cassatt? In what way was her art influenced by her expatriatism and by the ideas of European Impressionists?

9. Robert Henri is one of the leading figures in painting at the beginning of the 20^th century. What artistic achievements make Henri's paintings look so naturalistic, informal and throbbing with vitality?

10. Can the terms “The Eight” and the “Ashcan school” be used synonymously? Dwell on the characteristics and technical peculiarities of the art of these groups. What significant innovations were facilitated by its representatives?

Activity 3. Here are the descriptions of some famous works of art created by the artists of the USA. Match them to the titles given below:

1. Soon after the artist settled in New York City, he painted a certain picture – a superb specimen of masterly brushwork. A splendid colorist, he sets the beautiful, cool, silvery tones of the model’s dress against the warm, ruddy hue of her face – and a marvelous face it is in its animation and personality. The woman, comfortably engaged in sewing, seems to look up to take note of our presence. The detail of the hand keeping the thread taut is a brilliant passage. Such likenesses soon brought this painter all the work he could handle.

2. This painting is a magnificent requiem of a landscape of northeastern America. A panoramic, sweeping vista, with a glorious sunset and many-hued cloud formations, the scene depicts the American landscape clad in its unique autumnal colors – a phenomenon of nature that pleased American eyes and fascinated Europeans. The artist provided a wealth of naturalistic detail in the foreground, where the viewer is confronted with the wild tangle and chaos of nature, contrasted with the serenity of the village of the middle ground.

3. This painting reveals the artist’s indulgence in visual fantasy, and the love of his age for different historic architectural styles. The picture was commissioned by the architect, who is shown reclining atop a great capital, a few volumes from his celebrated architectural library scattered around him. He is represented thinking – and we have an opportunity to see a kind of realization of this thought – of all the great building styles of the past assembled before his eyes – Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Gothic. The picture demonstrates that the painter indulged himself in his penchant for grand extravaganza.

4. The picture shows an unconscious woman being transported from an unseen foundering ship to another vessel, she and her rescuer tenuously supported by a tautly stretched rope. The monumental figures, swinging precariously amid violent swells that crash upon treacherous rocks, are suspended between the unseen wreck (flapping sails are visible in the upper corner) at the left and the safety of the rescue ship at the right, also out of view. In such pictures the painter began to explore psychological drama, with undertones of death and masked sexual themes.

5. This small picture is probably in some way related to Victor Hugo’s novel of the same name, which deals with man’s combat against the powerful and awesome forces of the sea, with major scenes set at night. The painter had already begun to impose a grand simplification on natural form that led naturally to abstraction. The straight line of the horizon, the circle of the moon, the triangular shape of the sail, all these geometric forms suggest a consideration of abstract elements. But the picture is far more than an arrangement of geometric forms. Paintings such as this are romantic evocations of a world seen in a dream and filled with mystery. The shadowy characters contribute greatly to this, as does the somber, low-keyed palette.

1. Thomas Cole’s The Architect’s Dream

2. Albert Pinkham Ryder’s Toilers of the Sea

3. Gilbert Stuart’s Mrs. Richard Yates

4. Winslow Homer’s The Life Line

5. Jasper Francis Cropsey’s Autumn – On the Hudson River

 Language Focus: Vocabulary

Activity 1. Match the words underlined in the texts to their synonyms or synonymous expressions:

negligible milieu vociferous predilection crass sporadic respite pristine gnarled perilous spray caustically vapid moribund brusque coalesce

insensitive, stupid, boorish liking, preference, bias, propensity amalgamate, blend, merge, unite intermittent, irregular, occasional dying, declining, on its last legs twisted, contorted, knotty unspoiled, immaculate, virginal strident, noisy, loud, confident scathingly, acidly, bitterly mist, sprinkle insignificant, minor, trivial abrupt, curt, rude, impolite dull, bland, boring hazardous, risky, dangerous background, setting, environment break, escape, reprieve, pause

Activity 2. Match the words underlined in the texts to their dictionary definitions:

buoyant emulation to flock recluse untamed to abate trestle (bridge) to molder spurious diaphanous to extol escarpment tug-of-war to delineate slander rarefied

to describe, draw or explain something in detail to praise somebody or something very much a wooden or metal structure with two pairs of sloping legs used to support a flat surface a steep slope that separates an area of high ground from an area of lower ground imitation of doing something as well as somebody else because you admire them understood or experienced by only a very small group of people who share a particular area of knowledge or activity to become less strong cheerful and feeling sure that things will be successful to decay slowly and steadily a false spoken statement intended to damage the good opinion people have of somebody so light and fine that you can almost see through it to go or gather together somewhere in large numbers false, although seeming to be genuine or based on false ideas not changed, controlled or influenced by anyone a situation in which two people or groups try very hard to get or keep the same thing a person who lives alone and likes to avoid other people

Activity 3. Rearrange the text given below. Make sure you read through the completed text to check that the order of the paragraphs makes sense. Add new words which may come in handy when speaking about painting as a supplement to your vocabulary list:

WINSLOW HOMER

1. In “Croquet Scene”, one of five paintings Homer completed on the subject, progress on “the grand round” seems fairly advanced. Women and men compete with one another in the popular sport of croquet, which had recently been introduced to the United States from England. The crouching male figure positions the ball belonging to the woman dressed in red. She is about to croquet (or “send up the country”) the ball probably belonging to the woman in the left foreground, who shields her eyes against the bright afternoon sun. Notable for its broad brushwork, bold patterning, strong contours, and brilliant light effects, the painting epitomizes the spirit of a breezy summer afternoon.

2. In 1883, Winslow Homer moved to Prout's Neck, Maine, and from this point, where sea meets land, proceeded to create a series of images of the sea unparalleled in American art. Long inspired by the subject, Homer had spent summers visiting New England fishing villages during the 1870s and, in 1881-82, made a trip to a fishing community in Tynemouth, England, that fundamentally changed his work and his life.

3. “When I have selected a thing carefully, I paint it exactly as it appears.” Thus Homer, who was more of a realist than his predecessors, once described his method of working. “Breezing Up” (1876), like a good piece of reporting, describes a common event simply and convincingly. Loaded with the day's catch, a catboat is returning from a fishing expedition. All the details are clearly and tightly drawn: the metal boat fittings sparkling in the sunshine, the firm rigging, the shiny gray fish, and the wrinkled clothes of the boys. Especially fine is the light effect on the choppy water and on the spray thrown into the air by the movement of the boat.

4. One of America's undisputed masters, Winslow Homer made his reputation as an illustrator during the Civil War. During the early 1860s, Homer turned his acute observational and technical skills toward oil painting, preferring to depict figures out-of-doors in bright, natural light. These early paintings (often executed in series) feature aspects of contemporary life.

5. His late paintings focused almost exclusively on mankind's age-old contest with nature. Here, Homer depicted the heroic efforts of fishermen at their daily work, hauling in an abundant catch of herring. In a small dory, two figures loom large against the mist on the horizon, through which the sails of the mother schooners are dimly visible. While one fisherman hauls in the netted and glistening herring, the other, a boy, unloads the catch. With the teamwork so necessary for survival, both strive to steady the precarious boat as it rides the incoming swells. Homer's broad and masterful isolation of these two central figures underscores the monumentality of their task: the elemental struggle against a sea that both nurtures and deprives.

6. In spite of his emphasis on reality, Homer has given us more than an accurate record in his painting. Gifted with the ability to evoke a mood, he makes us almost feel the warm sun and fresh breeze, almost smell the salt air. A few brilliant lights contrasting with dark, muted tones create the illusion of a late afternoon when the summer sun is setting but still bright. And then, by making the boat list and by showing it moving back on a diagonal, as if it were about to leave our field of vision, a sense of speed is conveyed. Homer succeeds in presenting to us, almost as vividly as if they were our own, the emotions of the fisherman and boys, who are relaxing in the sun and enjoying the swift movement across the water.

Activity 4. Read the texts below and complete them using the words from the boxes:

God based form virgin captured literary awesome council warrior artistic precipice highest

“Last of the Mohicans”

Thomas Cole believed in the …¹… theory of the Grand Manner, which held landscape painting to be a low …²… of art, and history painting to be the …³… . Landscape painting therefore had to be ennobled, if not by the spirit of …⁴…, then by legend, historical event, or …⁵… association. This can be seen in Last of the Mohicans, which is …⁶… on James Fenimore Cooper’s novel. Cole’s picture represents the Mohawks gathered in …⁷… before their ancient chief, Tamenund, as the …⁸… white woman, Cora, is told she must choose between the wigwam and the knife of the treacherous Mohawk …⁹… Le Subtil. The drama is set amid towering mountain peaks, plunging valleys, and …¹⁰… forests. These dwarf the tiny figures, creating in the viewer the …¹¹… feeling of insignificance in the presence of all-powerful nature. The soul is excited vicariously by the action occurring so close to the edge of a great …¹²…, thus providing an experience of the sublime.

sky aesthetic created forerunners appeal abstraction moonlit ridiculed narrative twilight derived composition right adult

“Nocturne in Gray and Gold”

“Art should be independent of all clap-trap – should stand alone and …¹… to the artistic sense of eye or ear,” said the iconoclastic painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Born in the United States, Whistler spent most of his …²… life in Paris and London. To emphasize that there are no …³… overtones in his paintings – that instead they are …⁴… arrangements of color and shape on flat surfaces – he gave them titles …⁵… from music, such as “arrangements,” “symphonies,” and “nocturnes.” One of his first such paintings, Nocturne in Gray and Gold, captures a hazy, …⁶… night on Southampton Water. Rather than focusing on the ships in the harbor, Whistler was interested in the mood …⁷… by the dense, warm …⁸… and the subtle harmony of shades of gray and gold. To achieve this, he relegated the boats to either side of the …⁹…, creating a kind of frame for the tranquil expanse of water and …¹⁰… at the painting’s center. Part of a homely piling at the lower …¹¹… anchors the scene. Much misunderstood, sometimes openly …¹²… when they were first exhibited, Whistler’s luminous nocturnal visions were …¹³… of the experiments in …¹⁴… that would follow in the next century.

Activity 5. Read the text below and complete it using the words from the box on the right in the correct form. Always check that the word you have formed is not only lexically and/or grammatically appropriate but also makes sense in the context:

FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH (American, 1826-1900) Cotopaxi, 1857 A …1… American landscape painter in the second half of the nineteenth century, Frederic Edwin Church approached his subject matter as both artist and scientist. Inspired by the writings of the German …2… and explorer Alexander von Humboldt, Church visited the …3… terrain of South America twice, in 1853 and in 1857. In this …4… “New World” – particularly what was then the highest active volcano in the world, the mighty Ecuadorian Cotopaxi – he saw the perfect symbol of primeval nature and the spiritual …5… it could bring to civilization. This view of the perfectly shaped, smoldering cone of Cotopaxi (“shining mass” to the Incas) was completed just before Church’s second trip to South America. A …6… compendium of minutely rendered wildlife, vegetation, and terrain, the canvas illustrates the fascinating contrasts indigenous to this locale: from the calm lake water to the …7… cascades; from the lush, green foliage to the frozen, barren peak. The elevated vantage point, in which the viewer seems suspended in midair, heightens these evocative juxtapositions. One of at least ten finished canvases executed over almost two decades that feature the Andean volcano, this painting represents an intermediate vision between Church's straightforward, more naturalistic early pieces and the dramatic, …8… earthscapes of the mature period of his career.

Lead Nature Mountain Tame New Dazzle Explode Transcend

Artist Unknown The Sargent Family Though we do not know who painted this portrait group, we have a detailed record of the …1…. Mr. Samuel Green Sargent, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, is being welcomed home by his family. Martha runs to greet him; Maria is playing with her ball and dog; and Eliza, Samuel, and Mrs. Sargent complete the group. Their world is …2… and their house well furnished: the Hepplewhite chairs might well be the envy of a modern …3… of antiques. It is the artist's obvious enjoyment of detail that makes his painting especially delightful. He has looked at everything very …4… and has tried to bring out clearly the details of costumes and …5… . But the picture looks awkward to us because of the painter's lack of training. He did not understand anatomy, …6…, or perspective, nor could he render the effect of atmosphere in space. But he turned his deficiency to advantage, making an attractive design of his …7… . The curved forms of the figures are contrasted with the rectangular divisions of the …8…; and the irregularity of the landscape seen through the window relieves the formal balance of the squared windowpanes, the curtains, and the bird cages. All this emphasis on pattern, together with the charming naïveté of such American primitive paintings, makes a strong appeal to modern taste.

Sit Cheer Collect Close Furnish Short Compose Set

Activity 6. Use these word combinations speaking about your favourite American painters and their famous works of art:

To record objective details; to record daily happenings; to launch someone on a successful career; to offer escape to faraway places; idealistic contemplation of the native world; indistinctness of form; veiled softness of color; to fall under the spell; to submit to something at the outset; tone harmony; to express a democratic rejection of artificial standards; to paint with concern for literal fact; to raise a barrier between artist and layman; with an engraver’s linear precision; to rise to the fore; an apparent sharpness of focus; interest in the painterly possibilities of natural light; psychological acuity in the portrayal of someone; a masterly evocation of personality; avoidance of narrative detail; fascination with abstract qualities; layers of atmospheric color; to emphasize line rather than form or mass; low-keyed tonality.

 Developing Conversation Skills

Activity 1. Let's visit an art gallery! Read the descriptions of the paintings given below and say more about the artists' life, style and manner of painting.

Benjamin West (1738-1820)

Colonel Guy Johnson

Although this picture was painted in Britain, the subject is of special interest to us. Colonel Guy Johnson was the English Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the American Colonies. Probably to flatter the natives, he affected certain articles of Indian dress – moccasins, beaded garters, and the feathered cap that he holds in his hand. When Johnson returned to England in 1775, he took with him a few faithful Indians. Among them was his secretary, a Mohawk chief named Joseph Brandt, who is probably the Indian shown here, beside the superintendent.

West's subject is related to America, but his interpretation is European. Like Copley in ‘The Red Cross Knight’, he has painted an idealized composition. Colonel Johnson is posed with dignity and elegance, his head self-consciously turned and his hand authoritatively clasping his gun. The somewhat artificial manner in which his cloak is draped adds further impressiveness to his figure, while his broadly modeled face only hints at his individual character. Joseph Brandt, too, is a generalized figure, represented as a “noble savage,” mild in expression, and benignly pointing to his peace pipe. West poses him, indeed, in the role of a classical muse: the Mohawk chief inspires Johnson’s felicitous handling of Indian affairs.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

*

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

The White Girl

This picture created a sensation in Paris in the 1863 exhibition of paintings which had been refused that year at the official Salon. Though Whistler's experiment with a harmony in varying tones of white shocked his contemporaries, the painting seems conventional enough today. The young woman represented is Jo Heffernan, Whistler's favorite model. Her beautiful dark eyes and auburn hair are used as foils to the white in the composition. Whistler wished neither to express emotion nor to paint a realistic portrait. He believed that “art should stand alone and appeal to the artistic sense of eye.” He would not have it confounded with “emotions entirely foreign to it, such as devotion, love, patriotism, and the like.”

To make this painting appeal to the eye as music does to the ear, Whistler thought in abstract terms of design and color. By minimizing the contrasts of light and shade he flattened forms, and emphasized pattern. The skillfulness of his design is perhaps most apparent in the lower part of the picture, where the perspective is such that we seem to be looking sharply downward from above. This type of perspective, as well as the emphasis on pattern, may be traced to the influence of Japanese prints, which were becoming popular at this time in Paris. A French critic, realizing the abstract aim of Whistler’s design, referred to this composition as a “symphony in white.”

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

*

Mary Cassatt (1845-1926)

The Boating Party

This picture was painted in the bright sunlight of the Mediterranean at Antibes, on the French Riviera. Its subject, a variation on the artist's favorite theme of motherhood, is the boating excursion of a woman and her little boy. As the boat drifts from shore, the hired skipper gently pulls on the oars and the mother sits a little tensely, trying to restrain the wriggling child.

The artist shows less interest in the sentiment, however, than in the design of the painting. Like Whistler, she minimizes the roundness of forms, treats them more like flat shapes. It is the man's silhouette that she emphasizes, the crisp outline of the mother and child, and the swelling profile of the boat, repeated in the curved edge of the sail. Like Whistler again, she follows Japanese influence in composing the scene as if viewed from above. But her choice of colors is very different from that of her older contemporary. She uses the bright hues that her friends the Impressionists had introduced. The dominating blues of the sea and of the boatman's clothes contrast strikingly with the yellow-green boat and the mauve and pink dresses. The colors seem all the more vivid because shadows do not dull them and because strong lines separate one color from another.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

*

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)

Repose

The elegance which regularly distinguishes Sargent's formal portraits is scarcely less emphasized in this casual study of a young lady resting. The sitter is Rose Marie Ormond, the artist's niece, whom he painted many times. Here he is not describing her personality, but is using her merely as a model for a delightful presentation of languid, luxuriant femininity.

Both the posture of the model and the arrangement of the composition suggest repose. The room's furnishings hardly count as actual objects since only a part of each is shown and that but sketchily. They function in the picture as abstract planes, arranged in restful horizontals to complement the relaxed pose of the girl. There is one threat to the reposeful mood of the picture. That is the heap of glittering golden drapery on the sofa. The brilliance of Sargent's technique here competes for attention. Sargent was not so much interested in showing the characteristic textures of the stuffs as in exhibiting the beauty of his flashing brushwork. Using a flattened brush loaded with paint, he worked without any preliminary drawing. He designed, modeled, and finished his picture as a single process. His glistening pigment and sparkling high lights, flattering to the sitter, added much to his popularity.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Activity 2. Give a talk on a reproduction of any famous work of art created by the American artist. Describe its technical aspect and comment on its subject.

Activity 3. Give a talk on

• the history of American art, its major centres, stages and distinctive features;

• the most important movements, trends and schools in American art;

• the most representative artists of American art.

It is art that makes life, makes interest …

and I know of no substitute whatever

for the force and beauty of its process.

Henry James. Letter to H.G. Wells (1915)

And when it comes to water – he’s the Raphael of water.

He knows all its movements, whether deep or shallow, at every time of day.

… That’s what people don’t fully understand yet,

that one doesn’t paint a landscape, a seascape, a figure;

one paints the effect of a time of day on a landscape,

a seascape, or a figure.

Edouard Manet. To Jean Beraud, on Monet (1870s)