American Impressionism

This impressive volume has much to recommend it; well written the very readable text is both illuminating and interesting and the high quality reproduction of the paintings is a delight. The author divides the text into four sections: Prelude, to 1886; Rising Perceptions 1886-1893; The Years of Truth 1893-1898; and The Impressionist Establishment 1889-1915. It concludes with an extensive general and artist specific bibliography. The illustrations run with the text, and as is often the cases in such publications the text and the illustration to which it refers rarely appear on the same page. A large number, but by no means all, of the images are reproduced in colour; and they vary in size from little more than thumb-nail to the impressive full page. In some cases the photography is superb, and the reproduction vividly conveys the richness of the original along with the brush work and texture of the paint, but the standard here is not consistent and some reproductions appear flat by comparison, and the black and white images are not inspiring. It is a well laid out book with good typography, and it certainly has a feel of quality. American Impressionism is a fine most valuable volume, but put alongside the recently revised Soviet Impressionist Painting by Vern G Swanson, ISBN 0789207370, the quality and consistency of the reproductions is shown to be lacking.

This large volume may have the broadest coverage of the American impressionists of any book in print. So, if this topic interests you, I would heartily recommend this book. Gerdts attempts the ambitious job of presenting works, many in color, of hundreds of artists. He covers the major American impressionists pretty thoroughly. Cassatt, Robinson, Metcalf, Hassam, Bunker, Sargent, Twachtman, Chase, Weir, etc. are described in reasonable depth and the examples selected to illustrate their bodies of work are well chosen. Second and third tier artists, however, are usually covered in a very cursory fashion and with greater variability in the quality of the works selected for illustration. J. J. Enneking, for example, gets a few sentences of text and, although there are reproductions of two of his paintings, the one titled "The Brook, North Newry, Maine" could hardly be considered one of his best works. On the other hand, several very mediochre artists are covered too thoroughly. Some fairly significant artists, like Charles Hawthorne are left out entirely. In summary, I do like the book and I am glad to own it, but for all but the most famous twenty or so artists in the book, it can not be relied upon for significant information or for depicting the best examples of their work.

The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has some of the best works of American Impressionism. The Americans are, I think, underappreciated compared to the more popular French artists like Monet, Manet and Degas. (Well, except for John Singer Sargent, I guess. He's well-known and his work Madame X is the subject of novels.) But if you aren't familiar with the Americans, this little book is packed with information on ten artists included my favorite, Childe Hassam and also Twachtman, Frieske, Tarbell, and others. The writing is informative for so short a work, and this slips nicely into a bag or briefcase for that trip to the museum.

Whether you're a collector of miniature books or not, this 4" by 4" palm-size volume is both unique and fun. It's well constructed and offers a wealth of pictorial pleasures that can be appreciated again and again. Beginning with a prelude to Impressionism in our country in 1886, American Impressionism charts a vivid history of that genre with wonderful reproductions of works by Edmund Tarbell, Childe Hassam, Frank Benson and others. The text by Dr. William H. Gerdts offers a well balanced chronological study of the movement.

All too often when we think of "The Impressionists," or "Impressionism," we immediately think of the French Impressionists, awesome as they are, and perhaps simply leave it at that. Yet what about the American Impressionists? Hold onto your hats, folks! I am here to tell you about a group of artists as every bit as awesome as their fellow French artists, and they are all lavishly presented in this huge, incredible book. If you have a passion for art in general, or for Impressionism, and history too, you will cherish this book. There are over 400 paintings beautifully reproduced within the pages by 125 artists, along with the very fascinating text Dr. Gerdts has written about them all. Don't think this book can only be grasped by art scholars and is for them. The well written text is easy to grasp, and certainly will be enjoyed. The book begins by focusing on painting as it was in the mid-1800's, the very roots of Impressionism. Now then, for those who have never really thought about exactly WHAT Impressionism is, the name comes from a painting exhibited by Claude Monet in 1874, entitled "Impression Sunrise," and the rest is history, however, the meaning has to do with the play of light upon a scene at that VERY moment, while the artist is painting it. In Monet's own words: "a spontaneous work rather than a calculated one." Anyway, Dr. Gerdts then presents the relationship between the American and French Impressionists, and gives wonderful anecdotes about the American artists' adventures as they flocked to Giverny to study with Monet. From here, we learn how the critics attacked the artists here, as they did the French artists abroad. But they soon triumphed during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. From there, we follow their progress, until eventually, Impressionism was replaced by Cubism and Surrealism. Some of the most well known American Impressionists are Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, Philip Hale, John Twachtman, Willard Metcalf, Edmund Tarbell, William Merritt Chase, and Frank Benson, to name a few. The book focuses upon more though, oh, so much more. This is a splendid book, and well worth having. I highly recommend "American Impressionism."