Kristen Levesque
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
Seven Congress Square
Portland, Maine 04101
(207) 775-6148 ext. 3223
klevesque@portlandmuseum.org
Release: June 24, 2004
American Masters and Their European Muses at the Portland Museum of Art
(Portland, Maine) The Portland Museum of Art will present the exhibition Monet to Matisse, Homer to Hartley: American Masters and Their European Muses from June 24 through October 17, 2004. The show explores the rich relationship between European and American artists between the years of 1870 and 1950, an 80-year period that broadly coincides with the rise of modernist art, starting with French Realism and Impressionism and continuing through the advent of a truly international art culture. The exhibition, organized by the Museum, is comprised of approximately 80 paintings and works on paper by such artists as Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Thomas Eakins, Marsden Hartley, Winslow Homer, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and John Singer Sargent.
From 1870 to 1950, countless American artists were influenced in innumerable ways by European artists and their work. The earliest works in the exhibition acknowledge the influence of the French Barbizon School, as well as a realist style of painting taught at the Royal Academy in Munich, both of which were adopted by Americans traveling to Europe to study and by those who saw such works exhibited in the United States. The legacy of French Impressionism on American art was profound, varied, and long-lasting, and works by Monet and Renoir will be paired with examples by Theodore Robinson, Childe Hassam, and William Glackens, among others, to allow for expanded discussion. Post-Impressionist works by Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec provide opportunities to consider these artists’ significant impact on the work of such American artists as Mary Cassatt, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, and Walt Kuhn. Still other Americans working in the late 19th century-like John Singer Sargent, Thomas Eakins, and Edwin Lord Weeks-chose to study with French Academics and were influenced by their approach for at least part of their careers.
Exhibitions at Alfred Stieglitz’s ‘291’ Gallery in New York City and the landmark Armory Show of 1913 introduced many Americans to Europe’s most radical artistic developments, though a number of American artists had already encountered these new styles when visiting Europe. Pairings of works by Francis Picabia and Joseph Stella, Fernand Leger and Stuart Davis, and Henri Matisse and Milton Avery, for instance, speak to the relationship of some of Europe and America’s most recognized 20th-century artists. Later in the century, the influx of European emigres into America, especially beginning in the 1930s, reinforced the emergence of Surrealism in America, and works by Salvador Dali and Joan Miro will be paired with examples by James Guy and Alexander Calder.
Monet to Matisse, Homer to Hartley will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with essays by Richard Brettell, Professor at the University of Texas, Dallas; Donna Cassidy, Director of American and New England Studies at the University of Southern Maine; Anne Dawson, Associate Professor of Art History at Eastern Connecticut State University; Martica Sawin, critic, curator, and art historian; and Carrie Haslett, Joan Whitney Payson Curator at the Portland Museum of Art.
The Portland Museum of Art gratefully acknowledges Scott and Isabelle Black, whose leadership and support have made this exhibition possible. This exhibition has been generously sponsored by Peoples Heritage Bank. Media support has been provided by WCSH 6 and the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.
Museum Information
The Portland Museum of Art, Maine’s largest art museum, showcases fine and decorative arts from the 18th century to the present. From Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth to Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet, the Museum features three centuries of art and architecture. The Museum is located at Seven Congress Square in downtown Portland. The Museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday. Memorial Day through Columbus Day, the Museum is open on Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Museum admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and students with I.D., $6 for youth ages 13 to 17, and children 12 and under are free. The Museum is free on Friday evenings from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., made possible through the generous support of L.L.Bean and Patricia and Cyrus Hagge. No admission is required to visit the Museum Café and Store. For more information, call (207) 775-6148. Web site: portlandmuseum.org.