Fleischer Museum Exhibitions
Comaraderie: The Spirit of American Impressionism

The Impressionist art style began in the 1870s in France in defiance of the art establishment of the time. The first Impressionist exhibit opened in Paris in 1874 and was met with great ridicule. Still, within ten years, serious art students the world over traveled to France to enroll in the French academies, or to study under the more notable French Impressionists. World acceptance of this new style grew, and America's first Impressionist show was held in Boston in 1883. By the 1900s, this style was studied, experimented with, or taught in many regional schools of America. Mary Cassatt, the first American artist to paint in the Impressionist style, studied and exhibited with the French Impressionists. Joining them in 1877, she sought a career opposed by her family and society, as women's pursuit of an artistic career was taboo. This lone female was instrumental in achieving American approval of French Impressionism and became an inspiration for other women struggling to achieve a career in art. The Fleischer exhibition, "CAMARADERIE: The Spirit of American Impressionism," notes the association that many artists of the California School had with other regional American school artists of the time, whose work are currently exhibited in "Masterworks of American Impressionism from the Pfeil Collection" shown at the Phoenix Art Museum. The Pfeil Collection, like the Fleischer Museum, houses paintings by artists Alson Clark, Colin Cooper and Joseph Raphael. One of the strongest commonalities of both exhibits is that many attended the same European and American schools of art thus sharing instructors, similar influences and current day ideas, while interpreting and experimenting with this new Impressionist style. Friendships were established such as Richard Miller and Chistian von Schneidau. In 1916, an exhibition of National Portrait Painters was held at the Chicago Art Institute with works by Richard Miller, John Alexander, Robert Henri, William Chase and Frank Benson. This exhibition, along with von Schneidau's admiration of Edgar Payne and Jack Wilkinson Smith may have been a determination to enlist further art instruction of Richard Miller and Charles Hawthorne in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Richard Miller spent many years in France painting, working and teaching. The impact of his influence over von Schneidau's portrait and figural studies is apparent. The Wealth of Diakoku's palette is strong and pure. Backlighting through the window creates a shimmering effect as streams of sunlight flow into the foreground of the canvas and onto his subject's jeweled-toned kimono and the golden drapes. Von Schneidau emphasized this backlighting effect in many of his portrait works in the style of Richard Miller. Emil Carlsen studied abroad and taught at the National Academy of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He became the director of the San Francisco School of Design in 1887 and influenced many artists of the California School, including John Gamble, Percy Gray, Arthur Mathews and Guy Rose. One of the most important artists of the California School was Guy Rose. He studied under Emil Carlsen before traveling to France in 1888. Theodore Robinson, a friend of Rose, receives credit for introducing him to Giverny. Trained at Paris academies and having painted in Giverny, the heart of French Impressionism, Rose developed a similar style and technique to that of his neighbor and friend, Claude Monet. Frederic Frieseke, Richard Miller, Colin Campbell Cooper and Lawton Parker were friends and colleagues of Rose, who often gathered to socialize and critique one another's canvases while living in Giverny. These men also became important factors in the American Impressionist movement. Currently complementing the Pfeil Collection at the Phoenix Art Museum is Rose's Mist Over Point Lobos. Luminous and highly brushed, this canvas captures the early morning rolling coastal fog as it lifts and floats over the craggy shoreline enhancing the shimmering light effect as the rising sun breaks through. Guy Rose Mist over Point Lobos By 1900, the Chicago Art Institute was an important art center. Donna Schuster graduated there with honors before enrolling at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts with the instructional influences of Edmund Tarbell and Frank Benson. A painting tour, led by William Merritt Chase in 1912, took her to Europe where she won the William Merritt Chase Prize. After 1913, Schuster, like many East Coast artists, moved west to California in search of a fresh perspective which prolonged the Impressionist movement. With the onset of Modernism, California was truly the last refuge. Inspiration came with an abundance of bright sunny days, picturesque, diverse landscapes and the unwaning desire to paint out of doors. In the Garden demonstrates the loose, bold and energetic brush strokes inspired by Chase. The woman is presented in significant detail, a marked contrast to the rest of the painting, which is a blazing mass of vivid colors representing a field of flowers. Donna Norine Schuster In The Garden With only a brief stint at the Chicago Art Institute, Edgar Payne was virtually a self-taught artist. Leaving his Ozark home at age fourteen, he pursued his passion and ultimately became one of the most prolific and influential artists of the California School. Traveling across America, Payne sought employment as a sign painter, house painter and muralist as he developed his artistic style through observations and experience. In 1911, Payne traveled to California spending time in Laguna Beach and San Francisco sketching the endless landscapes. Here he met artist Elsie Palmer, whom he later married. With his wife and daughter, Payne left for Europe in 1922 where he spent two years sketching and painting the Alps of Switzerland and boat scenes in Italy and France. His High Sierra scenes sold so well that he produced them efficiently by the hundreds. The Santa Fe Railroad commissioned him to depict Southwest scenes as travel promotions of the West, and Indians on horseback riding within the massive walls of Canyon de Chelly or beautiful Arizona desert skies commanded his highest prices. Payne authored the successful book, Composition of Outdoor Painting in 1941, which is still sold and utilized today by many landscape artists. Brittany Skies, painted circa 1922 along the Brittany coast of France, is an outstanding statement of the artist's use of color in composition. Richly toned to the pastel shades of green, pink, and blue, the painting presents the incomparable feeling of ethereal space. The huge sky is full of large clouds suspended over an equally large, yet calm harbor full of motionless boats. The foreground shadow pressed against the background brightness adds to the moody expression of tranquility, which successfully pervades this painting. Edgar Payne Brittany Skies Arthur Grover Rider received his early formal training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago and later traveled to Europe where he studied at Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and the Academie Colarossi. For nine summers he painted in Spain and it was here that he met the great Spanish Impressionist, Joaquin Sorolla, who would greatly influence his Impressionist work. Rider moved to Laguna Beach in 1931 and became a scenic artist for 20th Century Fox and MGM Studios. As seen in Spanish Boats few painters have ever captured the true, overpowering intensity of light as well as Arthur Rider. As an American Impressionist, Rider stands without comparison as the ultimate practitioner of Impressionist color theory. Arthur Grover Rider Spanish Boats