Unexpected Views

“The Window Seat” by Francis David Millet, 1883, oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in., Manoogian Collection

The American Spirit: Selections from the Manoogian Collection  includes over 50 works from the 19th and 20th centuries focused on American impressionism and American realism, including landscapes of the Hudson River School and trompe l’oeil illusionistic paintings. “Richard and Jane Manoogian have collected American art since the 1970s, and the historical periods represented in this exhibition show the vigor and also the uniqueness of the American personality that was emerging,” Curator Jay Williams explains.

“We see that even when American artists were emulating a style that originated somewhere else, they made it their own. Oftentimes when American artists learned the tenets of impressionism, they learned it as a style, in addition to already having learned a more realistic or traditional mode of expression,” Williams notes. “So American artists came up with their own blend of realism and impressionism, and that is why American impressionism doesn’t look like French impressionism. It has its own twist.”

Between 40 and 50 artists are featured in the exhibition including Asher B. Durand, one of the fathers of the Hudson River School, and American impressionists Frank Benson, Jane Peterson and Frederick Frieseke. Williams calls the Frieseke’s “Two Ladies in a Boat” “one of the greatest American impressionist paintings ever.” This remarkable work is making a return appearance to the museum and will delight visitors who had the chance to see it as part of the 2006 Masters of Light exhibition.