Many American painters toward the end of the 19th Century went to France to study at the best schools and to be close to the source of French Impressionism.
Many would agree that Claude Monet (1840-1926) was a leader in the movement. By this time, he had moved northwest of Paris to the village of Giverny, on the Seine.
One of the American artists who went to France was Theodore Robinson (1852-1896). For fours years after his arrival in Paris, he rigorously studied the tenets of the traditional academy. He may have been exposed to the Impressionist style of looser brushwork and more vibrant color at the studio of Carolus-Duran (1837-1917), notable as the teacher of John Singer Sargent, who was just four years Robinson’s senior.
Robinson became friends with Monet. In fact, for a time, they lived next door to each other.
I would think it could be said that Robinson is one of the first generation of painters known today as American Impressionists.
American Impressionism often has elements of academic training apparent in careful drawing and design. In Giverny Landscape (circa 1889), Robinson on the surface appears to have captured a casual view of trees in the late evening sun. Closer examination shows two of the trees are almost in the center of the painting, balanced by a third tree on center with the left half of the work.
To keep this from being too static, Robinson uses massing of the foliage with rich glowing color slightly off center, the implied recession of hills into the distance and the slight diagonal field in the foreground.
Robinson has an Ohio connection. Theodore Butler (1861-1936), an artist from Columbus, married Monet’s stepdaughter. The Wedding March, which commemorates the union, is one of Robinson’s most famous works.
After almost 10 years in France, Robinson returned to the United States and continued to produce excellent quality paintings. Unfortunately, Robinson succumbed to an asthma attack in 1896, which cut short a brilliant career at the age of 46.
Nationally renowned local artist Michael McEwan teaches painting and drawing classes at his Clintonville area studio.
