Ten American Painters

Group of artists formed in 1898

This article is about the American Impressionist artists of the late 19th-early 20th centuries. For the 1930s Expressionist group of the same name, see the The Ten (Expressionists).

The Ten in 1908

The Ten American Painters (also known as The Ten) was an artists' group formed in 1898 to exhibit their work as a unified group. John Henry Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, and Childe Hassam were the driving forces behind the organization. Dissatisfied with the conservatism of the American art establishment, the three artists recruited seven others from Boston, New York City, and elsewhere on the East Coast of the United States, with the intention of creating an exhibition society that valued their view of originality, imagination, and exhibition quality. The Ten achieved popular and critical success,[1] and lasted two decades before dissolving.

## Foundation

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In America, popular painting styles usually originated on the east coast in cities like New York and Boston. The Ten continued a tradition of artists forming new groups in reaction to a lack of support from existing artists' groups. Thus, the National Academy of Design (founded in 1825 by students dissatisfied by the conservatism of the older American Academy of the Fine Arts) eventually became too conservative to suit the artists who in 1877 initiated the Society of American Artists so they could meet and exhibit their work as a collective. The Ten American Painters was born from this group in 1898, when Twachtman, Weir, and Hassam found the Society hostile to the Impressionist style they had adopted. Leaving the group was considered a bold move by the general public, but the Society of American Artists felt that it was easier to let the members that were leaving go than appease them.

## Impressionism

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Impressionism was a French art movement that emerged in the 1870s, and was picked up by American painters towards the end of the 19th century. Painters like Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir are generally considered the masters of the impressionist movement. An Impressionist painting will often use small dabs of color in order to make the painting distinguishable from afar, but indistinguishable from up close.[2]

## Members

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The founding members of The Ten were Frank W. Benson, Joseph Rodefer DeCamp, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Childe Hassam, Willard Leroy Metcalf, Robert Reid, Edward Simmons, Edmund C. Tarbell, John Henry Twachtman, and J. Alden Weir. All were former members of the Society of American Artists. Winslow Homer declined an invitation to join the group; Abbott Handerson Thayer accepted membership but withdrew before the group's first exhibition. After J. H. Twachtman died in 1902, William Merritt Chase joined in his place. Unanimous approval was required to admit a new member to the society.[3] It was also decided that there would never be less than ten members active for the group to remain as one.

For twenty years The Ten exhibited in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and other American cities. After this it dissolved due to death in its ranks and lack of public interest.[3]

## References

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1. ^ “Ten American Painters: The First Exhibition, Catalogue of the Pictures, from the Thomas Wilmer Dewing and Dewing Family Papers - Image and Media Gallery | Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.” Accessed September 16, 2015. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/ten-american-painters-first-exhibition-catalogue-pictures-14281.
2. ^ “Impressionism.” Accessed September 21, 2015. http://www.artmovements.co.uk/impressionism.htm.
3. ^ a b Brockett, Erik. "The Ten American Painters". Antiques & Fine Art Magazine. Retrieved 10 September 2015.

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Childe Hassam

Paintings|

* Spring Morning in the Heart of the City (1890)
* Winter in Union Square (1890)
* Coast Scene, Isles of Shoals (1901)
* Broadway and 42nd Street (1902)
* Cliff Rock--Appledore (1903)
* Spring on West 78th Street (1905)
* The Water Garden (1909)
* July Fourteenth, Rue Daunou, 1910 (1910)
* Surf, Isles of Shoals (1913)
* The Silver Veil and the Golden Gate (1914)
* The Avenue in the Rain (1917)

Series|

* California series

Related|

* American Impressionism
* The Ten
* Old Lyme art colony

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Impressionism

Originators|

* Frédéric Bazille
* Eugène Boudin
* Gustave Caillebotte
* Mary Cassatt
* Paul Cézanne
* Edgar Degas
* Armand Guillaumin
* Johan Jongkind
* Édouard Manet
* Claude Monet
* Berthe Morisot
* Camille Pissarro
* Pierre-Auguste Renoir
* Alfred Sisley

Patrons|

* Gustave Caillebotte
* Victor Chocquet
* Henry O. Havemeyer
* Ernest Hoschedé

Dealers|

* Paul Durand-Ruel
* Georges Petit
* Ambroise Vollard

Exhibitions|

* First Impressionist Exhibition

American
artists|

* William Merritt Chase
* Frederick Carl Frieseke
* Childe Hassam
* Alphonse Maureau
* Willard Metcalf
* Lilla Cabot Perry
* Theodore Robinson
* Walter Elmer Schofield
* John Henry Twachtman
* Robert Vonnoh
* J. Alden Weir

Australian
artists|

* Charles Conder
* E. Phillips Fox
* Elioth Gruner
* Frederick McCubbin
* Tom Roberts
* John Russell
* Arthur Streeton
* Walter Withers

Canadian
artists|

* Henri Beau
* William Blair Bruce
* William Brymner
* Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté
* Maurice Cullen
* Helen Galloway McNicoll
* James Wilson Morrice
* Laura Muntz Lyall
* Robert Wakeham Pilot

Other
artists|

* Eugène Baudouin
* Olga Boznańska
* Marie Bracquemond
* Giovanni Battista Ciolina
* Lovis Corinth
* Eva Gonzalès
* Antoine Guillemet
* Nazmi Ziya Güran
* Dominique Lang
* Max Liebermann
* Konstantin Korovin
* Martín Malharro
* Henry Moret
* Francisco Oller
* Nadežda Petrović
* Władysław Podkowiński
* Valentin Serov
* Max Slevogt
* Joaquín Sorolla
* Philip Wilson Steer
* Eliseu Visconti

Other media|

* Music
* Literature
* French impressionist cinema

See also|

* Amsterdam Impressionism
* Boston School
* California Impressionism
* Decorative Impressionism
* Neo-Impressionism
* Pennsylvania Impressionism
* Post-Impressionism
* Synthetic impressionism
* The Ten

Related|

* Wilfrid de Glehn
* The Impressionists (2006 TV series)
* Louis Leroy
* Nadar
* Pays des Impressionnistes

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