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IMPRESSIONISM

A View from Philadelphia

Woodmere extends sincere thanks and appreciation to The Arcadia Foundation, The Walter Elmer Schofield Legacy Fund of The Philadelphia Foundation, and an anonymous donor for their support of this exhibition and catalogue.

IMPRESSIONISM

A View from Philadelphia

CONTENTS Foreword 2 Landscape and the Countryside 4 The City 34 Still Life 50 The Figure 60

May 22, 2021–March 13, 2022

FOREWORD Having swept through Paris in the 1870s,

knew her and whose families overlapped

Impressionism became an international

with her elevated social circle, including

phenomenon, taking root in many cities

Adolphe Borie, George Biddle, Carroll

and rural art colonies throughout Europe

S. Tyson Jr., Walter Elmer Schofield,

and the Americas up through the 1920s

and others. Cassatt was the model

and beyond. In general, Impressionist

independent woman of the modern

artists rejected academic methods and

age, and in Philadelphia, where the

worked in a “naturalist” manner, painting

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

directly from the subjects before them,

(PAFA) had been training women artists

whether en plein air in the countryside, in

since 1844, Cassatt’s example paved the

the modern city, or in the studio. The

way for the careers of Cecilia Beaux, many

Impressionist brushstroke—often of vibrant,

of the Philadelphia Ten, and others.

unmixed color—expresses the artist’s

In addition to hiring Beaux, PAFA had the

temperament and a unique point of view.

foresight to hire William Merritt Chase

Philadelphia and its region became one

and Robert Vonnoh in the 1890s, artists

of the important centers of Impressionist

who established their voices as American

painting. A variety of factors and an

Impressionists early on. They were the

equilibrium of distinctive voices made for

mentors of the generation known today

a powerful florescence and contribution

as the Pennsylvania Impressionists,

to American art. To begin with, one of the

including Schofield, Edward Redfield,

artists who participated in the founding

Martha Walter, Raymond Theel, and

Impressionist exhibitions of Paris in

many others. These artists, after their

the 1870s was a Philadelphian: Mary

training at PAFA, established the

Cassatt. Born into a family of means,

pattern of traveling to France to study

Cassatt advocated for the embrace

the latest artistic trends in Paris and

of Impressionist practices and had a

to participate in the art colonies that

formidable influence on Philadelphia

had been established in the French

artists of a younger generation who

countryside. The career of trailblazing 2

Philadelphia modernist Arthur B. Carles followed this same trajectory, and that his earliest paintings demonstrate a naturalist, Impressionist approach reflects the influence of his mentors, both Chase and Beaux. By the time William Langson Lathrop founded his art colony in New Hope, Pennsylvania in 1899, there was already a broad base of interest among artists, collectors, and an art-loving public who appreciated their vision. The Pink Sash (Ellen Mary Cassatt), c. 1898, by Mary Cassatt (Long-term loan from a private collection)

All that is outlined above could be the subject of many doctoral theses, and Woodmere, with its focus on Philadelphia artists, is uniquely suited to exploring the

treasures into the future. As always,

configurations of Impressionism of our city

Woodmere’s staff shines, and the

and region. This exhibition is in many ways

curatorial team of Rachel Hruszkewycz,

an initial foray into an ongoing project.

Rick Ortwein, Laura Heemer, and Hildy Tow worked together to create wonderful

Woodmere thanks The Arcadia

gallery experiences, programs, and this

Foundation, The Walter Elmer Schofield

catalogue. We are especially thankful to

Legacy Fund of The Philadelphia

our special intern on this project, Julia

Foundation, and an anonymous donor

Leonor Thetford Valiela, an esteemed art

for the generous support that made

historian of the Italian Renaissance whose

this show possible. This is a show of

research and writing appears throughout

the Museum’s collection, and we are

these pages and on our wall labels.

grateful to the many individuals and families of artists who gave works of art,

WILLIAM R. VALERIO, PHD

supported conservation, and entrusted

The Patricia Van Burgh Allison

the institution to steward their great

Director and CEO 3

LANDSCAPE AND THE COUNTRYSIDE

ROBERT VONNOH American, 1858–1933

was very great. As an instructor, he

In the Connecticut Hills Date unknown Oil on canvas, 24 1/4 x 20 1/8 in.

of American Impressionism, including

Museum purchase, 2020

exhibited nationally and internationally

shaped the ideas of many of the artists who would themselves become leaders Walter Elmer Schofield, Edward Willis Redfield, and William Glackens—all represented in this exhibition. In the years that followed, Vonnoh and produced successful society portraits for Philadelphia, New York, and

Vonnoh was one of the earliest American

Chicago elites. He and his second wife,

proponents of French Impressionism in

sculptor Bessie Potter, summered at the

the United States. Having studied at the

artist colonies in Old Lyme and Cos Cob,

Massachusetts Normal Art Club in Boston,

Connecticut. These and other stimulating

he went to Paris in 1880. Impressionism

communities in unspoiled rural locations

was not yet a decade old and was taking

fostered the development of American

Paris by storm. Vonnoh, an ambitious,

Impressionism. Vonnoh may have

twenty-two-year-old artist, attended the

produced this moody view of a hazy day

Académie Julian in Paris. He joined the

in the Connecticut hills on one of these

art colony at Grez-sur-Loing, France, and

summer sojourns, before his return to

began experimenting in his landscape

Grez-sur-Loing in 1907. He died in France

paintings, adopting the Impressionists’

in 1933 and is buried in Nice.

preference for direct, outdoor painting and loose, suggestive brushwork of unmixed colors. Vonnoh brought this modern approach to Philadelphia as an instructor in 1891. He taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts until 1896, and the impact of his ideas 7

WILLIAM LANGSON LATHROP American, 1859–1938

This subject, The River Lane, may be a

The River Lane c. 1915 Oil on canvas, 22 x 25 in.

who shared a naturalist, Impressionist

path to the river from the Lathrops’ home. Lathrop’s magnetic personality and the bucolic New Hope colony attracted artists approach to painting outdoors and they benefitted from Lathrop’s mentorship. The group organized exhibitions and showed their works at Phillips’ Mill, a

Bequest of Dorothy J. del Bueno, 2020

property Lathrop purchased in 1903 (it functions to this day as a community Almost from the moment it became

art center). Members of the art colony

known as an art movement, and with the

enjoyed Annie’s charm and famously

notoriety of paintings like Claude Monet’s

generous Sunday lawn parties. While

Impression, Sunrise, Impressionism offered

these painters lived and worked in rural

the potential of abstract stylization in the

settings, their professional success

treatment of landscape. Lathrop’s free,

was tied to Philadelphia and New York.

vigorous brushwork and manipulation of

Lathrop, for example, exhibited at the

dark and light shades of green capture

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

nature’s energy and suggest the arrival

and at the National Academy of Design

at a sunny clearing on a walk through the

in New York nearly every year from 1915

cool shade of the woods.

to 1936.

Lathrop’s participated in “colonies” of Impressionism that arose in the 1890s in Woodstock, New York; Old Lyme, Connecticut; and later in Shinnecock Hills on Long Island. He and his wife, Annie, founded the art colony at New Hope in Bucks County when they settled there in 1899 on a property on the Delaware River. 9

CARROLL S. TYSON JR. American, 1877–1956

The Mouth of Somes Sound 1939 Oil on canvas, 23 x 37 in. Museum purchase, 1950

Tyson lived in Chestnut Hill and spent

Born in Philadelphia, Tyson was a

summers on Somes Sound, on the

cousin of artist John Singer Sargent. He

south-central coast of Mount Desert

studied at the Pennsylvania Academy

Island, Maine. The sound is depicted here

of the Fine Arts and exhibited his

in cool blues and greens punctuated

landscape paintings and pastels in 1927

by staccato touches of orange and

at New York’s prestigious Wildenstein

red. Tyson was an important American

Gallery and Durand-Ruel Gallery, which

collector of French Impressionism and his

were the premier galleries for French

landscapes reflect his knowledge of the

Impressionism.

Impressionists’ use of direct brushstrokes and application of color.

Mary Cassatt encouraged Tyson and helped him gain access to important private collections, including that of her friend Louisine W. Havemeyer, who also collected Impressionist art. Tyson had been a director of the Phoenix Iron Company, the Little Schuylkill Navigation and Coal Company, and the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company. His wife, Helen Roebling, was a member of the Roebling industrialist and engineering family who built the Brooklyn Bridge. Tyson is remembered for donating his extraordinary collection of paintings by Berthe Morisot, Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Vincent van Gogh (including Sunflowers) to the

Sunflowers, 1889, by Vincent van Gogh (Philadelphia Museum of Art: The Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Tyson, Jr., Collection, 1963-116-19)

Philadelphia Museum of Art.

HENRY B. SNELL American, 1858–1943

was too conservative; they were looking for inspiration in the more forward-looking art of Paris.

Branches and Boat 1920s Oil on board, 17 1/4 x 19 1/2 in.

From 1899 to 1943, Snell was a beloved instructor at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, now Moore College of Art and Design. It was there that he taught many of the members

Bequest of Dorothy J. del Bueno, 2020

of the Philadelphia Ten, a professional organization that helped women artists secure exhibition opportunities and

Snell is best-known for his paintings of

sell their work. Artists in this exhibition

boats and harbors. Looking at works by

that were part of the group include

Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Vincent

Theresa Bernstein, Susan Gertrude

van Gogh, he discovered Japanese prints

Schell, and Susette Inloes Schultz Keast.

and was inspired by the stylized forms,

Snell’s works are in the collections

flat shapes, asymmetrical compositions,

of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

and bold juxtapositions of near and far

the James A. Michener Art Museum,

elements. The rowboat in the lower right

the Pennsylvania Academy of the

creates small ripples in the calm water

Fine Arts, the Allentown Art Museum,

while another vessel travels upstream.

the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts,

Born in Richmond, England, Snell

and Woodmere.

immigrated to the United States in 1875 at the age of seventeen and studied at the Art Students’ League in New York. The Art Students’ League had been recently formed by a group of artists who believed that the National Academy

SUSAN GERTRUDE SCHELL American, 1891–1970

Vacationing in Nova Scotia, Schell

Nova Scotia Date unknown Oil on canvas, 20 x 40 in.

sun as it reflects off the ocean. One can

Museum purchase, 2011

together with a few small houses and

captures the dramatic expanse of a cove-shaped beach and the light of the imagine shells and seaweed between the rocks and the scent of salt water in the air. The horizontal-shaped canvas two figures establish the overwhelming scale of nature. Just as the French Impressionists made paintings of the leisure activities of Parisians when they went on holiday to Normandy or the South of France, so did the Philadelphia Impressionists document the experiences of vacationing in Nova Scotia, Maine, Monhegan, Gloucester, and other scenic destinations. Raised in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Schell attended West Chester State Teachers College, the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts), and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She was a member of the Philadelphia Ten, a group of women artists who exhibited and promoted their work together. She was a teacher for thirty years at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art. 15

SUSETTE INLOES SCHULTZ KEAST American, 1892–1932

Keast most likely painted this watercolor

By the Bridge Date unknown Watercolor and pencil on wove paper, 22 5/8 x 25 5/16 in.

bridge is reflected in the river in the

outdoors and onsite, but we don’t know the specific location. (If you recognize it, please contact us at Woodmere.) A foreground, leading the eye to a quaint town with pink homes and a church steeple. With expert control over the difficult medium of watercolor, the artist renders the architectural details

Museum purchase, 2017

of the bridge and houses, while using a range of blues and greens to create a counterpoint between a foreground tree and an organic flow of trees on the opposite bank. Keast was a member of the Philadelphia Ten, a professional organization that helped women artists secure exhibition opportunities and sell their work. Prior to joining, she attended the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art and Design) and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her instructors included Henry B. Snell and William Merritt Chase (works by both artists are on view in this exhibition). In 1911, she received a prestigious Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which allowed her to travel to Europe. 17

WALTER ELMER SCHOFIELD American, 1866–1944

McLegrenow Farm 1920 Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in. Museum purchase with funds generously provided by the Margaret E. Phillips’ Walter Elmer Schofield Legacy Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, 2021

Schofield studied the compositional

movement, Schofield made paintings

methods of French art. Like Claude

that are sought after by museums and

Monet, he based his work on direct

collectors throughout the United States.

observation of nature, but he also

Born in Philadelphia in 1866, he studied

composed in the studio and used color

at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine

to achieve structure and balance. In

Arts and then at the Académie Julian

McLegrenow Farm, for example, the same

in Paris, remaining in France for a time

blue of the sky in the upper left is used as

afterward to travel, paint, and immerse

the underlayer of stone elements in the

himself in French Impressionism. In 1886,

lower right, thereby unifying near and far

Schofield married an Englishwoman,

and the opposite sides of the painting. At

Muriel Charlotta Redmayne, and the

the same time, a rich palette of purples

couple took up residence in the United

and yellows creates an effect of dappled

Kingdom. From that time onward,

sunlight across the scene.

Schofield divided his time between his home in England and his brother’s family

Schofield served in World War I and

home in Chestnut Hill. He died in England

experienced some of its bloodiest battles.

in 1944. Per his wishes, his remains were

His family has described a change in

eventually brought back to Philadelphia;

his demeanor thereafter. He remained

he is buried in the family plot in the

extroverted and social, but there would

Cemetery of Saint James the Less (near

always be an inner sadness. In his

Laurel Hill Cemetery).

paintings from the 1920s, he recorded the appearance of stone cottages and thatched-roof farmhouses that seemed not to have changed for centuries, expressing a yearning for a simpler, preindustrial time. A leader among the Pennsylvania Impressionists and a central figure in the broader American Impressionism 19

EDWARD REDFIELD American, 1869–1965

Like his friend Walter Elmer Schofield,

Winter Wonderland c. 1917 Oil on canvas, 50 x 56 in.

lived and worked for an extended period

Redfield studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and in France. On completing the program at PAFA, Redfield traveled to France with Robert Henri in 1890. After attending the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts, he joined an American art

Courtesy of Lisa and Joe Walker

colony in Fontainebleau, and there met Elise Deligant. The two were married in 1893 and returned to the United States

With many important prizes and an

soon thereafter.

established international career by the first decade of the twentieth century, Redfield was considered the most accomplished of the Impressionist artists who lived near New Hope, Pennsylvania, and participated in the activities of Phillips’ Mill. Redfield and his colleagues were known for their snowy landscapes, and in this they were likely inspired by Monet, who enjoyed capturing the effect of sunlight on snow. There is no horizon in Winter Wonderland, and in this way, Redfield focuses the viewer on the luxurious pinks and yellows that interact with the cool blues and whites of the snow. 21

EDWARD REDFIELD American, 1869–1965

The artist’s great-grandson Laurent Ross recalls: When Redfield died, he left

Pennsylvania Mill Date unknown Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in.

a proviso in his will that his paintings were to be sold on the market for ten years and then the remainder divided up

Courtesy of Patricia Ross

among the family. My grandfather Laurent (Redfield’s son) chose Pennsylvania Mill because he’d

Redfield painted outdoors, and sought

shown the spot to his father.

to interpret nature’s atmosphere at a

Laurent was out hunting one

particular time and place. Most of his

day and came upon the mill. He

colleagues would make quick sketches

thought to himself that his dad

and small paintings outdoors and later

would like it, so when he returned

prepare large canvases in the studio. But

home, he described it to his

Redfield claimed to make entire large

father. They went to look at the

paintings in one go, outdoors and on

scene, and Edward returned the

site, to capture fleeting light effects and

next day to paint it.

the intangible essence of the natural experience. He was eager to be known as an artist who rejected the refinements and rituals of traditional studio practices, and he developed his own methods of carrying equipment on painting hikes and strapping large canvases to trees on windy winter days. He would wade into freezing streams or stand knee-high in banks of snow to capture a chosen winter view.

EDWARD REDFIELD American, 1869–1965

In his later years, Redfield became a

Painted Covered Bridge Tray Date unknown Oil on pressed metal, 29 1/2 x 23 1/2 in.

unique painted chests, toleware (tin)

furniture maker and decorative artist. He built wooden furniture and created trays, and hooked rugs. These painted trays are decorated with the types of wintry landscapes that Redfield was known for.

Courtesy of Patricia Ross

Painted Tole Tray Date unknown Oil on pressed metal, 29 x 21 1/2 in. Courtesy of Patricia Ross

FREDERICK R. WAGNER American, 1864–1940

1902, he returned to Philadelphia and was employed as an illustrator for the Philadelphia Press.

Winter Waterfall Date unknown Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in.

Wagner taught at PAFA’s Chester Springs School. He also founded the Addingham School of Painting in the suburbs of Philadelphia. His work is in the collections

Museum purchase, 2020

of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Sketch Club, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the James A. Michener

Wagner’s palette of cool purples, blues,

Art Museum, and Woodmere.

and grays conveys the deep cold of an icy pool banked with snow. The subject of this nocturne is a mill creek, the type of industry-driven structure in the rural landscape that draws energy from a man-made waterfall. A student of the great Philadelphia realist painter Thomas Eakins, Wagner frequently depicted man’s intervention in the landscape. Born in Port Kennedy, Pennsylvania, Wagner was an Impressionist painter. He was known for painting urban scenes featuring the Philadelphia area. From 1879 to 1884 he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), where he studied with Eakins. Upon finishing his studies there, Wagner traveled west to California to paint. In

ANTONIO MARTINO American, 1902–1989

November c. 1925 Oil on canvas, 36 x 40 in. Gift of Lynn and Tony Hitschler, 2021

Martino’s composition is not a

making weekend painting trips to Bucks

conventional landscape with a

County. They understood that there

picturesque view, but one in which the

was an audience of patrons in the gritty,

earth itself dominates as a tangible

industrial city for art depicting the rural

presence. The hard edges of houses and

countryside. In 1941, the family founded

man-made structures contrast with a rich

Martino Commercial Art Studios, which

range of reddish-brown organic forms,

not only served as a gallery for the fine

including a dirt road that cuts through

art made by the Martino siblings, but

the sloping earth. Some indistinct

also provided a variety of graphic design,

buildings along the left side serve as a

illustration, promotional, and interior

counterpoint to a cluster of farmhouses

décor services. All of the Martino siblings

in the upper right. It is late fall. Leaves

and some of their children participated in

have either turned red or fallen, and

the business, whose staff grew to include

winter approaches. A single illuminated

twenty Martino artists.

window suggests the presence of a

The winner of many national awards,

solitary individual.

Martino was elected as an associate of

Born in Philadelphia, Martino was the son

the National Academy of Design in 1938

of Italian immigrants and one of eight

and as a National Academician, one

siblings, all of whom were creatively

of the highest distinctions awarded to

inclined. Their parents emigrated

American artists at the time, in 1942. By

from Italy and settled in Philadelphia’s

1971, Martino moved to California, where

Italian Market; the father worked as a

he continued to paint seascapes and

mason and stonecutter, the mother as a

landscapes until his death.

buttonhole maker in an apparel factory. In 1915, with the encouragement of eldest brother Frank, younger brothers Antonio and Giovanni began attending free art classes at the Graphic Sketch Club (now Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial) in South Philadelphia. The brothers also began 29

RAYMOND THEEL American, 1891–1952

studying with renowned artists such

Interior of Woods Late 1930s–early 1940s Oil on canvas, 67 x 69 in.

Daniel Garber, and Violet Oakley. As a

Long-term loan courtesy of Marilyn Steinbright

visit Paris, Brussels, Munich, Florence,

as Thomas Anshutz, Cecilia Beaux, Hugh Breckenridge, Henry McCarter, student at PAFA, Theel was awarded two prestigious Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarships that enabled him to Rome, and Tunis, among other cities. On returning to Philadelphia, Theel

A depiction of the environs of the artist’s

supported himself and his family by

home in Jarrettown, Pennsylvania, this

working as an illustrator and billboard

monumental painting is considered to be

painter for N. W. Ayer, Philadelphia’s large

Theel’s masterpiece. The work envelopes

advertising agency.

the viewer in a dazzling array of color

Theel was a thoughtful, modest individual

and bold impasto, conveying a sensation

and a quick study. He was interested in

of the energy of the forest as it springs

the work of Post-Impressionist artists

to life. The trunk of a large, sturdy tree

like Georges Seurat, and he was

commands the foreground. It stands

inspired to develop his own method of

apart from a gathering of younger trees

juxtaposing thick dabs of warm and

and vines that occupy the mid-ground of

cool color to enliven every inch of his

the painting.

compositions with animated paint. In

Almost all that we know of Theel and

the 1920s and 1930s, when many of his

his legacy as an artist comes from fewer

colleagues were making smaller paintings

than twenty paintings. Tragically, a fire

for domestic markets, Theel made large

in 1943 destroyed his home, studio,

canvases and was impressed by the scale

and most of his life’s work. The artist

of Monet, in particular, and his massive

attended the Pennsylvania Academy of

waterlily paintings.

the Fine Arts (PAFA) from 1909 to 1914,

BETTY W. HUBBARD American, 1901–1967

of Berthe Morisot (London: Lund

Pleasant Bay Road, East Harwich, Massachusetts c. 1947 Oil on canvas, 23 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.

critics, Hubbard rarely showed her work

Gift of the artist’s daughter, Moira Hyle, 2011

through the leafless trees; this is the cool

Humphries, 1957). Though she enjoyed friendships with numerous artists and publicly and, surprisingly, never had a solo exhibition. Well into the 1960s, Hubbard would maintain her modernist approach. In this landscape, dappled sunlight filters light of an autumn day. There is also a mysterious quality to the image: the road

Born Elizabeth Conrad Welsh in Chestnut

beckons us in, but shadows fall across

Hill, Hubbard attended the Pennsylvania

the path. We can only imagine where the

Academy of the Fine Arts. She studied

road may lead.

with Arthur B. Carles and was a lifelong champion of the importance of Carles’s contributions to American art. After marrying her husband, Richard, in 1934, Hubbard moved to New York City and spent summers on Cape Cod, raising a family and continuing to paint. Starting in the 1950s, she often visited Paris to see Julie Manet, the daughter of Berthe Morisot and Eugene Manet (brother of Impressionist Édouard). Hubbard is known for her translation of Morisot’s letters, The Correspondence

THE CITY

WALTER ELMER SCHOFIELD American, 1866–1944

Schofield immersed himself in the study

Montmartre c. 1896 Oil on canvas, 37 x 47 1/2 in.

the country with fellow painters Robert

of Impressionism while living in France at different times in the 1890s. He stayed in Fontainebleau and Brittany, and toured Henri and William Glackens in 1895. He painted Montmartre while living in Paris. This is thought to have been the view from the window of his apartment, an image of the very café and bistro

Funding for the purchase of Montmartre— in honor of Miss Margaret E. Phillips and in memory of her parents: Sarah M. Phillips (née Schofield) & Herbert L. Phillips—made possible by the Walter Elmer Schofield Legacy Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, 2019

he would have frequented every day. Bright summer light traverses the varied textures and warm creams and ochres of the distinctive stucco facades. The artist may have been inspired by paintings of the Parisian cityscape by his French contemporary Camille Pissarro, such as Avenue de l’Opera: Morning Sunshine, now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That painting was originally acquired by Schofield’s friend Carroll S. Tyson, an important collector of French Impressionism and an artist whose work is also included in this exhibition. The Tysons and the Schofields lived in

Avenue de l’Opéra: Morning Sunshine, 1898, by Camille Pissarro (Philadelphia Museum of Art: Gift of Helen Tyson Madeira, 1991-180-2)

Chestnut Hill.

WALTER ELMER SCHOFIELD American, 1866–1944

This painting demonstrates Schofield’s

The Steam Trawlers, Boulogne 1909 Oil on canvas, 42 3/8 x 54 1/2 in.

Schofield’s Impressionist contemporaries

Museum purchase with funds generously provided by the Margaret E. Phillips’ Walter Elmer Schofield Legacy Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation and James M. Alterman, 2020

depicted tugboats in Gloucester. It may

interest in modern subjects. Trawlers are work boats that dredge or drag nets in harbors. Like the harbor scenes that depicted, they symbolize the modern age and the hard work that makes modernity possible. Among Schofield’s lifelong friends, William Glackens similarly depicted the tugboats of New York harbor and George Sotter be that all three artists were inspired by Claude Monet’s notorious Impression, Sunrise. This painting, made in Le Havre, the industrial port town adjacent to Boulogne, so shocked critics that in a derisive commentary one remarked that the painting was not finished but a mere “impression,” giving rise to the name Impressionists. The foggy atmosphere of the harbor in The Steam Trawlers, Boulogne is rendered with energetic brushstrokes, and the foremost trawler is sketched freely, amid plumes of smoke and swirling water.

Impression, Sunrise, 1872, by Claude Monet (Musée Marmottan © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY)

Schofield lends movement and life to the harbor by placing the vessels at angles that cut diagonally across the water.

GEORGE SOTTER American, 1879–1953

that does the heavy lifting in the harbor.

Tugboat Docked in Gloucester Date unknown Oil on canvas, 26 x 22 in.

red boat stands out against the muted

Museum purchase, 2018

they do not render a landscape, but the

This work reflects Sotter’s interest in light effects and atmospheric conditions. The blues and grays of the overcast day. French art critic Jules-Antoine Castagnary explained Impressionism in 1874 by claiming, “They are impressionists in that sensation produced by the landscape.”

A much-admired landscape painter

Sotter was friendly with Edith Emerson,

and stained-glass designer, Sotter

director of Woodmere from the early

began his career in his hometown of

1940s through 1978 (and who also

Pittsburgh, painting industrial subjects.

designed stained-glass windows).

After teaching painting and design for

Sotter’s first museum exhibition was

nine years at the Carnegie Institute of

organized by Emerson at Woodmere.

Technology, in 1919 he moved to Bucks County, and became known for depicting historic stone farmhouses and pre-industrial buildings under dark night skies with twinkling stars. On summer vacation in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Sotter adopted a lighter palette and became attracted to subjects that harkened back to his youth in Pittsburgh. The tugboat, for example, is the quintessential “protagonist” of modernist realism, a hard-toiling vessel

ROBERT SPENCER American, 1879–1931

Spencer captures the atmosphere of

Waterloo Row c. 1917–18 Oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in.

an even gray light falling across the

a cloudy day at a busy construction site. The mood is somberly poetic with composition. Spencer renders the sensation of his scene in loose, gestural brushstrokes

Museum purchase, 2011

rather than depicting illustrative details. Direct application of paint can be seen in the short strokes of blue and white in the sky. With areas of raw canvas visible, the artist creates forms that hover between representation and abstraction. Spencer began his training in the arts at the National Academy of Design in New York City in 1899, and continued his studies in 1903 with William Merritt Chase at his New York School of Art. By 1906, Spencer moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and became a member of the New Hope artist colony. Spencer’s work is in the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Delaware Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Woodmere, among others.

ARTHUR B. CARLES American, 1882–1952

Having recently completed his studies

Notre Dame c. 1907 Oil on canvas, 46 x 39 in.

on a three-year stint in Europe,

Courtesy of Julie and Jim Alexandre

edge art, artists, and collectors, including

at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Arthur B. Carles embarked starting in 1907. The experience was transformational. Spending much of his time in Paris, Carles encountered cuttingthe work of Henri Matisse and expatriates Gertrude and Leo Stein. For decades

Claude Monet introduced the subject

later, Carles would promote modern art

of the cathedral facade to modern art.

as an artist and teacher in the United

He depicted the play of light across the

States, and Philadelphia specifically.

facade of Rouen Cathedral in more than

Carles depicts Notre Dame de Paris as

thirty paintings, experimenting with

a majestic landmark that stands out

atmosphere and lighting conditions as

like a beacon against a dramatic sky.

the counterpoint to the richly sculpted

Working from the left bank across the

ancient surfaces.

Seine, Carles depicts the light of the early morning, with the sun rising in the east behind the Cathedral. Booksellers are Cathedral of Rouen: Full Sunlight, Blue Harmony and Gold, 1894, by Claude Monet (Musée d’Orsay) Photo Credit: Scala / Art Resource, NY

just beginning to open their stands along the quay.

C. JOSEPH WARLOW American, 1888–1918

a magnificent nighttime view of

In Manayunk Date unknown Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in.

Tragically, Warlow died at the age of

Philadelphia, sparkling with electric lights.

thirty, a victim of the 1918 influenza epidemic. Christopher Morley wrote of the artist’s passing in the Philadelphia Evening Ledger on December 29, 1919:

Bequest of Dorothy J. del Bueno, 2020

There are no words competent to express the tragedy of those In Manayunk captures the play of morning

who have worked patiently for an

light and shadow looking up past a row of

ideal and yet die too soon to see

modest houses that ascend to the facade

their dreams come to full fruit.

of St. John the Baptist Church. It is winter

Yet it is good to remember that

and the sun is just rising in the East. Like

those pinched and bitter days

Claude Monet painting Rouen Cathedral,

of last winter, when we were all

Warlow depicts the church as a beacon of

bemoaning Black Mondays and

spiritual beauty.

ways clogged with snow, gave Warlow his opportunity to put on

Born in Williamstown, Pennsylvania,

canvas the beauty that haunted

Warlow was among the most promising

him and which made his life a

students of his generation at the

triumph. And a civilization that

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

is wise enough to beautify an

He received several awards, including

electrical office with so fine a

the prestigious Cresson Memorial Travel

mural canvas, that builds railroad

Scholarship.

stations like Greek temples, puts

Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO)

one of the world’s finest organs in

commissioned Warlow in the mid-1910s

a department store and a painting

to create a mural for its main office on

of mosaic glass in a publishing

Chestnut Street; the artist produced

plant, is a civilization that brings endless hope to birth. 47

EARL HORTER American, 1880–1940

Horter played an important role in

Cathedral, Rouen, France c. 1920 Charcoal on paper, 22 1/2 x 16 1/2 in.

also as a collector. Throughout the 1930s,

introducing modern art to Philadelphia, not only as an artist and teacher, but he taught at the Philadelphia Museum School (now the University of the Arts) and Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, exposing students to the formal innovations of the European avant-garde.

Museum purchase, 2003

His art collection of seminal modern works by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Horter’s drawing of Rouen Cathedral is

Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp, and

a nod to Monet. In his more modernist,

Constantin Brancusi was bequeathed

Cubist-inspired version, atmosphere

to the Philadelphia Museum of Art

is created by overlapping angular

and shown in an exhibition in 1999:

geometries, hard edges, and charcoal

Mad for Modernism: Earl Horter and

shadings. There is a subtle tension

His Collection.

between order and disorder, with strong diagonals and occasional curves challenging the predominance of vertical lines. Horter was born in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. A superb draftsman and technician, he was first employed as a commercial artist working for N. W. Ayer, the largest advertising agency in Philadelphia. Throughout his career, Horter produced a large body of drawings, lithographs, and etchings that depict his modern Philadelphia and New York.

STILL LIFE

WILLIAM MERRITT CHASE American, 1849–1916

conservative Society of American Artists,

Still Life with Brass Coffee Pot, Bowl, Celery and Red Peppers Date unknown Oil on canvas, 32 1/8 x 28 in.

Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Museum purchase, 2020

Still lifes were such a staple of Chase’s

just as the French Impressionists had from the Salon of the Académie des

An influential instructor in New York and Philadelphia, Chase taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1896 to 1909. The work of many of his students and colleagues is on view in this exhibition.

artistic production that he worried he would be remembered as “a painter Chase is among the best-known

of fish.” Through his intense study of

American Impressionists. His artistic

Impressionist Édouard Manet’s work in

instruction began in Indianapolis and

the 1890s, Chase discovered still lifes by

New York, and he studied abroad in

Spanish Baroque artists such as Diego

Munich, enrolling in the Royal Academy

Velázquez. The result was a period of

in 1872. Encounters with Impressionism

dark and earthy compositions with

in Germany and France led Chase to

objects from the humblest of kitchens.

experiment with modern techniques and

Here, an assortment of vessels stands on

subjects. Back in the United States he

a table in a dark interior. A brass coffee

became known for his sunlit paintings

pot reflects a warm, narrow light and

of sophisticated New Yorkers enjoying

scattered vegetables serve as colorful

the urban beauty of Central Park and

counterpoints, drawing attention to the

Prospect Park.

artist’s expert brushwork.

In 1902, Chase became a member of Ten American Painters, an Impressionist exhibiting group that split from the 53

ARTHUR B. CARLES American 1882–1952

Carles made this painting while a student

Still Life with Copper Kettle 1904 Oil on canvas, 20 3/4 x 28 7/8 in.

training under William Merritt Chase and

Museum purchase, 2018

items into an intimate still life. The copper

at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). Carles excelled there, Cecilia Beaux, whose works are also in this exhibition. He received a number of awards, including the Henry Thouron Prize for best student composition in 1903. Here Carles gathers assorted household kettle, blue and white porcelain, red drapery, yellow lemons, and other objects offer a pleasing array of shapes, sizes and materials. The contrasting warm and cool colors enrich one another. He was likely inspired by still life paintings by Chase such as Still Life with Brass Coffee Pot, Bowl, Celery and Red Peppers.

ADOLPHE BORIE American, 1877–1934

Borie developed a practice that combined

Flowers in an Urn 1904 Oil on canvas, 22 x 18 in.

Academy of the Fine Arts with the casual

Museum purchase, 2018

throughout his life and encouraged other

the realist approach he absorbed from his mentors at the Pennsylvania elegance, luminous color, and painterly sophistication of French Impressionism. He lived in Paris for several periods American artists to embrace modern French painting. With its high-keyed color, Borie’s Flowers in an Urn is a celebration of beauty. A large, pink, peony-like flower draws the eye to the center of the painting while violet blooms create a dynamically off-center arrangement. Woodmere purchased this painting at auction in 2018 from the collection of Dorrance “Dodo” H. Hamilton (1928–2017), a great philanthropist and supporter of the Museum.

WILLIAM GLACKENS American, 1870–1938

Glackens was born of humble means.

Flower Piece 1926 Oil on canvasboard, 12 1/4 x 15 3/8 in.

he took drawing classes at night at

Early on, he supported himself as an illustrator and reporter by day while the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The mentorship of Robert Henri led Glackens (and other illustrators) to painting and, around the turn of the century, to New York. There the group

Given in memory of Irwin Nat and Marjorie M. Pincus, 2005

of mostly Philadelphia artists formed the so-called Ashcan School, known for their scenes of city life. Glackens had attended

Full of color and energetic brushwork,

Central High School in Philadelphia

this floral still life is a handsome example

with Albert C. Barnes, and the two men

of Glackens’s mature work in this

remained lifelong friends. Glackens

genre. A diverse and casual bouquet

recommended and sometimes purchased

stands on a table in a simple vase. The

Impressionist and modernist paintings for

vibrant colors of the blooms, including

Barnes, and many of these are anchoring

anemone, narcissus, and goldenrod,

paintings in the galleries of the Barnes

strongly contrast the background. The

Foundation today.

conspicuous pattern of brushstrokes

By the time Glackens painted this still life

plays against atmospheric shadow.

in 1926, he had married Edith Dimock,

Glackens’s soft touch and feathery

an heiress (and painter) from Hartford,

brushstrokes suggest the inspiration of

Connecticut. The couple lived the high

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, whom he idolized,

life, with a magnificent Manhattan

but he was equally enamored of the bold

townhouse, summers on Long Island, and

color of Henri Matisse, whose work he

trips to Europe.

came to know in his many trips to Paris.

THE FIGURE

MARY CASSATT American, 1844–1926

Europe and, like many American artists

The Pink Sash (Ellen Mary Cassatt) c. 1898 Pastel on paper, 24 x 19 3/4 in.

life, becoming one of the few American

Long-term loan from a private collection

the domestic and social lives of upper-

of the day, received further training in Paris. She remained there for most of her artists to play a central role in the development of French Impressionism. Cassatt and Berthe Morisot were the two best-known women artists to show with the French Impressionists. Both Cassatt and Morisot focused their paintings on class women in France. It is likely that Cassatt created this work when her

Cassatt demonstrates her mastery of

brother Gardner and his family visited

pastel in this portrait of her niece. Bold,

Beaufresne, the artist’s château outside

rapid strokes of vivid color compose the

the city. She became especially close

dress and chair, while blended passages

with her niece, then around four years

softly describe the youthful roundness

old; the artist made many portraits

of Ellen Mary’s face. A lovely tenderness

of Ellen Mary throughout the girl’s

is expressed in her small, delicate hands,

childhood, and left Beaufresne to her

and the way her dark eyes look off to

when she died.

the side. The artist conveys a sensitive appreciation of childhood innocence while also asserting the girl’s individuality. Born to a large, affluent family in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, Cassatt studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts—one of the few such schools open to female students—from 1861 to 1862. After graduation she went to 63

GEORGE BIDDLE American, 1885–1973

Mother Dressing Daughter 1917 Hand-colored etching, 6 3/4 x 5 7/8 in. Gift of the Michael Biddle Family, 2021

Untitled [Woman and a Parrot] 1917 Hand-colored etching, 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 in. Gift of the Michael Biddle Family, 2021

Nude Bathing 1917 Lithograph, 13 1/2 x 8 in. Gift of the Michael Biddle Family, 2021

Biddle revered Mary Cassatt as one of

Philadelphia spinster of her generation,

the greatest artists of modern times.

and she would regale me with

When he met her in Paris in 1912, the

Washington pie and Philadelphia white

two became close friends. Cassatt took

mountain cake and sherry. She loved to

Biddle under her wing, introducing him to

gossip about Philadelphians.”

important gallerists and artists, including

Biddle’s prints of the mid-1910s suggest

Claude Monet. She also became an

that, per Cassatt’s advice, he studied the

important mentor. Biddle would bicycle

Impressionists. Untitled [Woman and a

over to her chateau for lunch when he

Parrot] and Mother Dressing Daughter

was living and making art in Giverny,

convey Biddle’s admiration for Cassatt’s

then famously the home of Monet, and

own work, in particular her strong

where Frederick Frieseke, an American

sense of line and pattern. Nude Bathing

Impressionist, had established an

suggests that Biddle was looking at the

expatriate art colony.

famous bathers of Degas.

Writing about Cassatt in 1926 on the occasion of her passing, Biddle wrote, “Her work had been the most important influence I had felt. Then through her, I had somehow lived with her contemporaries.” He went on to describe how Cassatt encouraged him to study the work of Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas in particular. In addition, Biddle wrote, “It was as a great human being that she influenced me—perhaps the greatest human being I have ever known . . . socially, she remained the prim

GEORGE BIDDLE American, 1885–1973

By the 1920s, Biddle established a

Untitled [Four Nude Women Standing] 1921 Etching, 10 x 13 1/4 in.

a complex, multifigure composition

confident style that was entirely his own. Four Nude Women Standing is that demonstrates the elegance and sophisticated line that would characterize his work for decades to come.

Gift of the Michael Biddle Family, 2021

GEORGE BIDDLE American, 1885–1973

horrors of World War I. Her arms reach

Victory 1921 Lithograph, 13 1/4 x 4 1/4 in.

wide-legged stance suggests a fragile

up to the sky and her right foot steps forward. Although she is strong, her stability. Biddle’s representation of France as a female nude reflects his faith in France as a civilizing force, an anchor of progressive art and culture. Marianne’s dramatic hair, extending beyond the

Gift of the Michael Biddle Family, 2021

border of the image, are the flowing tresses of Art Nouveau.

Victory may be the first of Biddle’s

In 1918, Biddle’s friend and fellow champion

many works of political art. The figure

of French painting Arthur B. Carles would

is Marianne, the embodiment of the

create a similar image of Marianne’s

French nation; she beseeches the

hard-won victory, his large-scale political

heavens to save her country from the

statement, La Marseillaise. Biddle was a humanitarian who championed the rights of workers and the poor. He lived in Mexico for an extended period and become involved in the leftist muralist movement in Mexico City, where he executed a mural himself. He also encouraged his one-time schoolmate Franklin Delano Roosevelt to create the Federal Art Project, a program that supported artists during the Great Depression.

The Marseillaise, c. 1918, by Arthur B. Carles (Philadelphia Museum of Art: Purchased with Subscription Funds, 1930-67-1) 69

CECILIA BEAUX American, 1855–1942

only during her second European trip, meeting Claude Monet in Giverny with American Lilla Cabot Perry in 1896.

Portrait of Hannah Rose Hoffman Lee 1893 Oil on canvas, 26 x 21 in.

Here Beaux works in a particularly Impressionistic manner, perhaps following other Americans, such as James Abbott McNeill Whistler. The painterly brushwork bears witness to the

Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Richard Cross, 1998

artist’s hand, describing the play of light across the surfaces of the dress. Yet, the sitter’s features and quiet introspection

In 1895, Beaux became the first full-time

remain Beaux’s artistic focus. Her great

female instructor at the Pennsylvania

reputation as a portraitist derived

Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), where

from just this combination of brilliant

most of the artists in this exhibition

execution and psychological quality

studied. Beaux, with the support of

that pleased clients and critics. Indeed,

her extended family, trained at PAFA

fellow PAFA instructor William Merritt

and privately with William Sartain in

Chase described Beaux as “not only the

Philadelphia. She won the Mary Smith

greatest living woman painter, but the

Prize for best picture by a Philadelphia

best that has ever lived.”

woman artist at PAFA’s annual exhibition of 1885. The award-winning portrait of Beaux’s sister and nephew was later exhibited at the prestigious Paris Salon. Beaux studied abroad from 1888 to 1889 in Paris and Brittany, encountering progressive approaches such as outdoor painting. However, she made direct contact with the Impressionists

THERESA BERNSTEIN American, born Poland, 1890–2002

called attention to Bernstein’s urban

Portrait of the Artist’s Mother c. 1916 Oil on board, 26 x 16 in.

Bernstein emigrated with her family

Museum purchase, 2018

scholarship, graduating in 1911. The

subjects and confident brushwork, which is beautifully illustrated here.

from Poland and settled in Philadelphia when she was an infant. She attended the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art and Design) with a Board of Education following year, she enrolled at the Art Students’ League in New York, under

This painting is thought to be a portrait

William Merritt Chase, whose work is

of the artist’s mother. Elegantly dressed

also on display in this exhibition. In New

for an outing, and with her back to the

York, Bernstein became acquainted with

viewer, the sitter turns to the right as if

Robert Henri, leader of the so-called

something has attracted her attention.

Ashcan School, and her future husband,

The informality of the gesture and the

painter William Meyerowitz.

pose are hallmarks of a certain type of French Impressionism that captures

In 1917, Bernstein participated in the

what appear to be unposed moments

first exhibition of the Philadelphia Ten,

of modern life. The format of a single

a society of women artists trained

figure against a seemingly unfinished,

in Philadelphia that enabled them to

painterly background that suggests an

sell their work and build professional

exterior environment was pioneered by

reputations across the country. The

the French Impressionists. Art critics

group was active for nearly thirty years,

often described Bernstein’s painting

more than any other all-women artist

style as “masculine.” While slighting her

association in the United States.

“femininity,” this commentary rightly

ADOLPHE BORIE American, 1877–1934

paintings Olympia and Luncheon on the

Chorus Girl 1914 Oil on canvas, 43 1/8 x 55 1/2 in.

Pettit spent a year in Paris. There

Gift of Horace Pettit, MD, 1995

Here Borie employs various Impressionist

Grass. After his training in Philadelphia and Munich, Borie and his wife Edith the artist encountered masterpieces of French Impressionism and met trailblazing painters, including fellow Philadelphian Mary Cassatt.

techniques: dashing, suggestive brushwork on the sofa seat and the This picture is unapologetically arresting:

model’s feet and blue and green

a nude with auburn hair reclines on a

modeling of her body. Even the subject

blue sofa strewn with a discarded dress

of the “chorus girl” echoes the cabaret

and petticoat. The woman’s gaze, pose,

dancers, singers, and circus performers

and unabashed display of her body

represented by Henri de Toulouse-

bring to mind Édouard Manet’s famous

Lautrec, Edgar Degas, and other French modernists exploring the erotic side of urban life. Yet Borie’s work seems more portrait-like than a generalized painting of a nude or entertainer. Could it portray a specific woman in an artistic guise, as Manet did with his favorite model Victorine Meurent? The copper hair, fleshy nose, and full lips of Borie’s woman do find tempting parallels in Evelyn Nesbit, arguably the first American supermodel with ties to the artistic

community in Philadelphia.

ADOLPHE BORIE American, 1877–1934

In the 1890s, many French Impressionists

Untitled [Female Seated Nude] Date unknown Charcoal on paper, 19 1/4 x 12 1/4 in.

and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Borie was

Gift of Hollie Powers Holt, 2020

figure study in pencil likely dates to the

turned to the subject of classical nude bathers, most notably Edgar Degas frequently in Paris in the 1890s, and the generally classical approach of his Impressionism—whether in still lifes, portraits, or figurative subjects—may derive from his first encounters with Impressionism in these years. The delicate early twentieth century. It is serene in the classicism of its pose.

The Bathers, Number 2 c. 1930 Oil on canvas, 26 x 25 in.

Borie was certainly familiar with his friend and fellow painter Carroll Tyson’s important collection of Impressionist paintings (now in the Philadelphia

Gift of Peter D. Nalle, 2017

Museum of Art), particularly Renoir’s masterpiece The Large Bathers. The loose, painterly approach of Borie’s Bathers is free and open. Energetic brushstrokes animate an Arcadian landscape, with figures, water, and the landscape merging into a gestural statement.

The Great Bathers, 1884–87, by PierreAuguste Renoir (Philadelphia Museum of Art: The Mr. and Mrs. Carroll S. Tyson, Jr., Collection, 1963-116-13) 77

ADOLPHE BORIE American, 1877–1934

A Philadelphia native trained locally and abroad, Borie advocated for an embrace of French painting.

In the Garden Date unknown Oil on canvas, 29 3/4 x 22 in.

Here, a young woman sits quietly on a bench in a verdant garden. Borie’s loose brushstrokes suggest the forms of her dress and background foliage. Sunlight falls in brilliant color, as on the hat and

Museum purchase, 2012

blooms. Here, the artist unmistakably embraces the subject, technique, and aims of the French Impressionists. In 1907, Borie and his new wife Edith Pettit spent a year in Paris. He became enthralled with French Impressionism and met Mary Cassatt, a fellow Philadelphian and the only American to participate in the original Impressionist exhibitions. For decades after, Borie continued to experiment with the Impressionist aesthetic of vibrant color and bravura painting and was an advocate for modernism in American art.

HUGH HENRY BRECKENRIDGE American, 1870–1937

where he taught for forty-three years.

Nude Study 1915 Oil on canvas, 32 x 33 in.

year in Paris at the Académie Julian,

Breckenridge began his own studies at PAFA in 1887 and received a Cresson Travel Scholarship. After spending a where he worked with William-Adolphe Bouguereau, he returned to Philadelphia and taught briefly at Springside School for Girls (now Springside Chestnut

Bequest of Dorothy J. del Bueno, 2020

Hill Academy) before joining the PAFA faculty. In 1920, he opened the Although he is best known as a

Breckenridge School of Art in Gloucester,

modernist painter of abstract form

Massachusetts, which flourished as a

and intense color, Breckenridge would

summer haven for many notable artists.

sometimes work in the manner of Impressionist realism. Here, for example, he conveys the unidealized sensuality of a nude figure who turns away from the viewer, as if unposed. The volumetric, fleshy forms of the body in pink and beige occupy a shallow space: a sculptural presence between a foreground table and a rich, earthcolored brown curtain. The application of paint is gestural throughout. Breckenridge’s enthusiasm for French modern art made him one of the most daring instructors at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA),

ARTHUR B. CARLES American, 1882–1952

Mlle de C. 1908 Oil on canvas, 41 1/2 x 32 1/4 in. Museum purchase in honor of Tony Hitschler, 2020

An accomplished and charismatic

1908 Salon d’Automne in Paris, one of the

singer, dancer, and musician, Mercedes

groundbreaking exhibitions of modern art.

de Cordoba was a muse-like figure in

Carles, whose art is characterized by

avant-garde circles. She met Carles

incessant experimentation, seems at a

in New York in 1904, and the couple

crossroads between an impressionist

married while living in France in

approach and more avant-garde ideas.

1909. Carles sent the portrait back to

The ennobled figure seems to dissolve

Philadelphia to be exhibited in the

into broad, quick strokes of intense color

Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania

(note the green dashes for shadows in

Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) that

the dress.) Background elements vie

same year.

for the viewer’s attention, in particular

Living together with Mercedes in Paris.

geometric plays of light on the rear

Carles became immersed in the

doors. Carles depicts himself as a

exhilarating world of avant-garde artists

reflection in the French window behind

and collectors, including Paul Cézanne,

his beloved.

Henri Matisse, and Gertrude and Leo Stein

Carles would become an important

among others. He would participate in the

advocate for modernism in American art. He had a solo show at Alfred Stieglitz’s cutting-edge gallery 291 in 1912 and he

Mercedes de Cordoba, c. 1900, by Joseph T. Keiley (National Gallery of Art, Gift of William Innes Homer)

exhibited in the Armory Show of 1913, which introduced Cubism, Fauvism, Futurism, and other movements to the American public.

ADOLPHE BORIE American, 1877–1934

His family was French, and he spent

Portrait of Margaret Carey Madeira 1915 Oil on canvas, 84 x 36 in.

late nineteenth century.

considerable time in Paris, immersed in the forward-looking art scene of the

Both Borie and Madeira were members of Philadelphia’s affluent cultural elite, and they traveled in the same social circles as the Cassatt family.

Gift of Mary, Margaret, and Thomas White in honor of their Grandmother, 2020

After the failure of his family’s bank in 1905, Borie supported himself in part as a portraitist, capitalizing on his family’s

In this full-length portrait, the elegantly

society connections. His painterly

dressed Margaret Townsend Carey

brushwork in pink and gold suggests

Madeira (1891–1951) stands with hand on

luxurious fabrics and fashions.

hip addressing the viewer. The daughter of Francis King Carey, an influential Baltimore lawyer, she was a women’s rights advocate who successfully argued for legislation to place limits on women’s work hours. This portrait conveys her grace and confidence, and was commissioned on the occasion of her marriage in September 1915 to the lawyer Percy C. Madeira, Jr. of Philadelphia. Borie had studied under William Merritt Chase and Thomas Anschutz at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), and he had won PAFA’s Carol Beck Gold Medal for portraiture in 1910. 85

THOMAS HOVENDEN American, born Ireland, 1840–1895

Where the Robins Sing 1890 Oil on canvas, 28 1/8 x 36 1/8 in. Museum purchase, 2019

A young woman pauses to listen to the

nature’s textures in Where the Robins

birdsong in a clearing, her stance and

Sing suggests the down-to-earth subject

arm gesture echoing the branches of a

matter of the Pont-Aven artists.

large, dramatic tree. The young woman

Although Hovenden’s painting style

is the artist’s teenage daughter Martha

would become increasingly loose and

on the family property at the corner of

Impressionist-like, he firmly believed

Germantown Avenue and Butler Pike. The

that the purpose of art was to express

symbolic meaning remains a mystery.

important ideas. In a lecture at the

This could be the spring of her coming of

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

age. The reference to the robin in the title

(PAFA) in February 1895, Hovenden

is also suggestive. In Christian symbolism

argued against the avant-garde practice

the robin represents saintly individuals

of “art for art’s sake” and its self-centered

who comfort the needy; it was believed

tendencies.

that a robin had tried to ease Christ’s suffering and had pulled a spine from

In Brittany, Hovenden met painter Helen

his Crown of Thorns. Such moralistic

Corson (whose works are in Woodmere’s

storytelling is typical of Hovenden’s work.

permanent collection). In 1881, the couple married and settled at the Corson family

Born to humble means in Cork,

homestead in Plymouth Meeting.

Ireland, and orphaned at the age of six, Hovenden apprenticed as a child to frame makers who recognized his innate creative talent. After studying at the National Academy in New York, he arrived in Paris in 1874 to study at the École des Beaux-Arts. By the late 1870s he was living in Pont-Aven in Brittany, and had become part of Philadelphian Robert Wylie’s American colony of painters. The appreciation of the coarse stone wall and attention to 87

MARTHA WALTER American, 1875–1976

visits to Italy, France, the Netherlands,

Study for Picking Apples c. 1904–10 Oil on panel, 9 1/2 x 6 1/4 in.

Chaumière and Académie Julian and

and Belgium. She settled in Paris, taking classes at the Académie de la Grande likely executed By the Bandstand and Picking Apples at this time. In both paintings, figures are loosely

Bequest of Dorothy J. del Bueno, 2020

described as forms that emerge from the dark and they represent women of different social status. The farm woman

By the Bandstand— Luxembourg Gardens c. 1903–8 Oil on panel, 8 1/4 x 10 1/2 in.

is either on her way to the orchard at dawn or heading home at twilight after an exhausting day of work. The ladies of the bandstand are settling into a leisurely afternoon event in the shade of Paris’s great public garden.

Bequest of Dorothy J. del Bueno, 2020

In 1928, the Philadelphia Art Alliance organized simultaneous exhibitions

Martha Walter, a Philadelphia native,

of the work of Walter and William

studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of

Langson Lathrop, also represented in this

the Fine Arts (PAFA) and the Shinnecock

exhibition. Walter is best known for her

Summer School of Art on Long Island,

sun-soaked beach scenes, inspired by her

with teacher and mentor William Merritt

work with Chase on Long Island.

Chase. She was a classmate of Arthur B. Carles, whose work is also in this exhibition. In 1903, Walter won PAFA’s Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship, enabling her to visit Europe for further artistic instruction and experience. Her paintings from subsequent years indicate 89

GRACE LYDIA EVANS American, 1877–?

racial inequities she experienced—in the

Portrait of a Young Black Girl 1926 Oil on canvas, 34 x 28 in.

all the more impressive given the work’s

Gift of Sue Ellen Miller, in honor of Black youth in America, 2020

early twentieth century. She studied at

toy store, at school, on the street, and more. The gravity of the girl’s presence is painterliness. Thick, loose brushstrokes suggest her expression. Evans was one of a number of women artists working in Philadelphia in the the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in the 1890s under William Merritt Chase and Hugh Breckenridge.

Saturday Evening Post illustration by Grace Evans

She attended at the same time as Robert Henri, leader of the Ashcan School, who became famous for down-to-earth, expressive portraits of children. Evans exhibited at PAFA and the National Academy of Design in New York and is thought to have supported herself through sales of her art, portraiture, and an active career as a commercial illustrator. Her work appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and her fashion

This portrait captures an African

drawings were published in Good

American girl in a pensive moment. Lost

Housekeeping and the Philadelphia Press.

in thought, she seems to forget the doll cradled in her arms. With a fine bow and toy, she may have come from a family of means. Her white doll attests to the

ALICE KENT STODDARD American, 1884–1976

Born in Watertown, Connecticut,

Contemplation 1935 Oil on canvas, 16 x 24 in.

admired her work. She studied at the

Bequest of Dorothy J. del Bueno, 2020

of the Fine Arts (PAFA). During World

Stoddard was a first cousin of renowned artist Rockwell Kent, who greatly Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art and Design), and then at the Pennsylvania Academy War II, Stoddard worked as a drafting artist and instructor making airplane

Stoddard was well known among

schematics for the Budd Company,

prominent Philadelphians, many of whom

a leading manufacturer of airplanes

commissioned her to paint portraits of

and defense equipment located on

their families. She painted her own family

Hunting Park Avenue in Philadelphia.

members as well. Here she masterfully

Stoddard regularly showed her work in

conveys the intimacy of family life,

PAFA’s annual exhibitions and received

capturing her mother and sister, Virginia,

numerous awards. She volunteered and

in the sitting room of their home on

exhibited at Woodmere for many years.

Crefeld Street in Chestnut Hill. Domestic

Her paintings are well represented in the

interiors and depictions of women and

Museum’s permanent collection.

children were the frequent subjects of women artists. In Contemplation, Virginia sits in an antique nursing chair and pauses while knitting, seemingly lost in thought. Across the room, Stoddard’s mother focuses on a game of solitaire. The large space between them suggests their separate psychological spaces and their respective moments of quiet inwardness. 93

BETTY W. HUBBARD American, 1901–1967

In a composition that seems defiantly

Moira c. 1933 Oil on canvas, 27 x 21 ½ in.

was particularly inspired by the works of

Gift of the artist’s daughter, Moira Hyle, 2011

bravura. Hubbard captures her daughter’s

unfinished, Hubbard depicts her daughter Moira with broad painterly gestures. She Impressionist Berthe Morisot, who, among the original group of Impressionist artists, was the most daring in her painterly innocence and an abstract sense to the world around her.

Woodmere Art Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

© 2021 Woodmere Art Museum. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher. Photography provided by Jack Ramsdale unless otherwise noted. Catalogue designed by Barb Barnett and Kelly Edwards and edited by Gretchen Dykstra.

Support provided in part by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

Front cover: In the Garden (detail), date unknown, by Adolphe Borie (Museum purchase, 2012)

9201 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118 woodmereartmuseum.org

Impressionism: A View from Philadelphia