Many Americans are familiar with the French impressionists of roughly 1860-86. The works of Impressionists Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir are studied in many U.S. schools.
The Impressionists' paintings featured light tones, almost pastel colors using short, light brush strokes. When looking at these paintings, people sometimes have to squint to see the images in the almost ethereal pieces.
Upon learning about French Impressionism, a number of American artists went to France to study the Impressionist movement. They returned with a new style called American Impressionism which flourished from 1886 to 1920.
Some of the artists came back to America and called themselves The Ten — Frank Weston Benson, Joseph DeCamp, Thomas W. Dwing, Childe Hassam, Willard Leroy Metcalf, Robert Reid, Edward Simmons, Edmund Charles Tarbell, John Henry Twachtman and J. Alden Weir. When Twachtman died in 1902, he was replaced by William Merritt Chase.
Columbus Museum curator of art Kristen Miller Zohn says American Impressionism differs from the French style in its short, choppy brush strokes.
“There was more structure in American Impressionist art,” Zohn said.
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