Historic American Art Colonies
Introduction
This section of the Traditional Fine Arts Organization (TFAO) catalogue Topics in American Art is devoted to the topic "Historic American Art Colonies." Articles and essays specific to this topic published in TFAO's Resource Library are listed at the beginning of the section. Clicking on titles takes readers directly to these articles and essays. The date at the end of each title is the Resource Library publication date. Also see Art Clubs and Societies.
After articles and essays from Resource Library are links to valuable online resources found outside our website. Links may be to museums' articles about exhibits, plus much more topical information based on our online searches. Following online resources may be information about offline resources including museums, DVDs, and paper-printed books, journals and articles.
We recommend that readers search within the TFAO website to find detailed information for any topic. Please see our page How to research topics not listed for more information.
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(above: Scene along Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM. © Barbara Hazeltine 2010)
Articles and essays from Resource Library:
Art Colonies (general information)
Call of the Coast: Art Colonies of New England at the Portland Museum of Art (7/16/09)
The Mississippi Art Colony Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition (12/98)
Art Colonies and American Impressionists (9/1/98)
Berkeley Art Colony
Blue Dome Group
The Art of Alfred Hutty: Woodstock to Charleston (6/4/12)
Byrdcliffe Art Colony
Byrdcliffe as a Utopian Community (3/25/05)
Cape Ann Art Colony
Artists of Cape Ann: A 150 Year Tradition; essay by Kristian Davies (8/24/04)
Artists of Cape Ann: A 150 Year Tradition; by Kristian Davies (8/23/04)
Carmel/Monterey Peninsula Art Colony
Monterey: The Artist's View, 1925 - 1945; texts by Kent Seavey (7/11/08)
Artists at Continent's End: The Monterey Peninsula Art Colony, 1875-1907 (12/12/05)
The Carmel Monterey Peninsula Art Colony: A History; article by Barbara J. Klein (4/21/05)
The Carmel Art Association, by Betty Hoag McGlynn
Cos Cob Art Colony
The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore (12/1/00)
Dublin Art Colony
The Dublin Colony, by Barbara Ball Buff (6/12/01)
East End Art Colony
Guild Hall: An Adventure in the Arts, Selections from the Permanent Collection (1/25/04)
Hampton Bays Art Colony
Bohemian Paradise: David Burliuk, Nicolai Cikovsky and the Hampton Bays Art Group (3/11/08)
Laguna Art Colony
What Made Laguna Beach Special; essay by Deborah Epstein Solon (1999)
Los Angeles Art Colony
The Art Students League of Los Angeles, 1906-53, by Julia Armstrong-Totten, Marian Yoshiki-Kovinick, and Will South
The Development of an Art Community in the Los Angeles Area, by Ruth Westphal
Loners, Mavericks & Dreamers: Art in Los Angeles Before 1900 by Nancy Moure
Lyme Art Colony
A Circle of Friends: The Artists of the Florence Griswold House (4/20/07)
In Retrospect: Selected Works by Lyme Art Association Members; essay by Michael Lloyd (11/28/05)
A Matter of Style: The Influence of French Art on the Old Lyme Art Colony (9/27/04)
The American Art Colony at Lyme (2/7/02)
The Lure of Lyme: Celebrating 100 Years of the Lyme Art Colony (2/3/99)
Matunuck Art Colony
Painters of Matunuck, Rhode Island, 1873-1941; article by Lindsay Leard-Coolidge (12/30/10)
Mississippi Art Colony
The Mississippi Art Colony Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition (12/98)
Monhegan Island Art Colony
Lamar Dodd - Half a Century of Monhegan Summers; essay by Robert L. Stahl, M.D. (10/10/15)
A Gift to the Island; essay by Remak Ramsay (7/21/10)
Jay Connaway and the Landscape of New England (11/27/09)
A Painter's Paradise: Monhegan's Nineteenth-Century Artists; essay by Emily Grey (7/25/09)
The Monhegan Island Art Colony: 1858-2003; essay by Edward L. Deci (9/2/05)
Mystic Art Association
Art Is Upon the Town: A Retrospective Exhibition; article by Willa T. Schuster (2/26/09)
New Hope Art Colony
Ogunquit Art Colony
An Eye for Maine: Paintings from a Private Collection; essay by Donelson Hoopes (11/30/04)
Provincetown Art Colony
Bringing the Colony to Light; Introduction essay by Alexander J. Noelle (8/17/11)
Charles Webster Hawthorne Founds the Cape Cod School of Art; essay by James R. Bakker (8/17/11)
The Provincetown Art Association and Museum; essay by Christine McCarthy (8/17/11)
Blanche Lazzell and the Advancement of Modernism; essay by Robert Bridges (8/17/11)
Ross Moffett and the Modernist Tradition; essay by Josephine C. Del Deo (8/17/11)
Hans Hofmann in Provincetown; essay by Deborah Forman (8/17/11)
Academic and Impressionist Traditions in Provincetown; essay by Elizabeth Ives Hunter (8/17/11)
Restoring the Art Colony to Its Former Glory; essay by Deborah Forman (8/17/11)
The Gravity of Provincetown; essay by Alexander J. Noelle (8/17/11)
Richmond Art Colony
A Walk in the Woods: The Art of John Elwood Bundy, by William H. Gerdts covering the Richmond (Indiana) School
Ridgefield Art Colony
"Artists and Art Colonies of Ridgefield, New Jersey" by Gail Stavitsky
Rockport Art Colony
Roycroft Art Colony
A Harmonious Life: The Design and Book Art of Dard Hunter (6/20/03)
San Diego Art Colony
San Diego Beginnings, by Martin E. Petersen
San Francisco Area Art Colonies
The San Francisco Art Association by Betty Hoag McGlynn
The Santa Cruz Art League by Betty Hoag McGlynn
Santa Barbara Art Colony
The Arts in Santa Barbara, essay by Janet B. Dominik (7/7/01) describing the Santa Barbara Art Colony
Ranchos: The Oak Group Paints the Santa Barbara Countryside, by Ellen Easton
Santa Fe Art Colony
Southwestern Allure: The Art of the Santa Fe Art Colony (10/9/13)
Canyon Road and the Santa Fe Art Colony (10/31/05)
Women Artists of Santa Fe; essay by Michael R. Grauer (11/26/04)
Albert H. Schmidt: Lost and Found in Santa Fe (7/19/04)
The Old Guard: Santa Fe Art Colony Founders (12/1/03)
Scalp Level School
Scenic Views: Painters of the Scalp Level School Revisited; text by Judith Hansen O'Toole (11/17/08)
Scenic Views: Painters of the Scalp Level School Revisited (11/17/08)
Seguinland
Maine Moderns: Art in Seguinland, 1900-1940 (8/25/11)
Shinnecock Art Colony
Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art
St. Augustine Art Colony
Lost Colony: The Artists of St. Augustine, 1930-1950 by Robert W. Torchia
Taos Art Colony
The Best of the King Collection (8/17/07)
Taos Artists and Their Patrons: 1898 - 1950 (7/16/99)
Taos Artists and Their Patrons, 1898-1950 (6/10/99)
The Southwest Paintings of Walter Ufer and E. Martin Hennings (3/18/16)
White Mountains Art Colony
God's Country: The White Mountains in Art (10/31/06)
White Mountain Painters 1834-1926 (1/17/99)
Woodstock Art Colony
The Woodstock Art Colony (6/15/99)
Art colonies information from other websites
For information from other websites, please click here.
Online videos:
Barn Door Video Productions offers a
1 1/2-minute clip from the video The Dublin Art Colony Collection at
the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery. According to the Barn Door web site:
"Dublin New Hampshire was home to a group of painters in the late 1800's,
which became known as The Dublin Art Colony. This 11-minute video gives
a brief overview of the work of 9 artists that were part of this group.
This video is shown in the Keene State College Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery
to introduce visitors to this group of painters whose work is featured in
the permanent collection at The Thorne." Paul Tuller, owner of Barn
Door Video Productions in Dublin, NH and the video's narrator, founded the
non-profit organization, The Friends of the Dublin Art Colony. [Link
found to be expired as of 2015 audit. TFAO is saving the citation for use
by researchers.]
Florence
Griswold Museum's page
on YouTube links to Once Upon a Time in Old Lyme: The Story of an
American Art Colony, a 19 minute DVD produced by the Museum in 2007.
See Part 1 [9:50]
and Part 2 [9:38]
of the video. Accessed May, 2015.
KETC/St.
Louis offers a video archive of segments from the series Living
St. Louis. A segment titled Ste. Genevieve Art Colony cover
in depth this depression-era Missouri art colony. Accessed July, 2015
Provincetown:
An Art Colony [5:54] Accessed May, 2015.
Books:
Google announced in 2004 a collaboration with institutional libraries to digitize large quantities of books: the Google Books Library Project. Public domain books are available on an open access basis. Copyrighted material is treated in one of three ways. Google negotiates with cooperating publishers through its Google Books Partner Program for "Limited Preview" of entire pages or sections within books by readers. For scanned books without copyright permissions, "snippets" are available. For remaining books basic information is provided without ability to search within the book. The snippets inform readers about the relevance of the book to their subject of inquiry.
A Google Book Search conducted April 26, 2008 located 13 books featuring either full view or limited view with the search phrase "American art colonies." An example is:
The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists
on the Connecticut Shore, By Susan G. Larkin, National Academy of Design
(U.S.), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Denver Art Museum. Published 2001
by Yale University Press. 246 pages. ISBN:0300088523. Google Books says:
"What Argenteuil in the 1870s was to French Impressionists, Cos Cob
between 1890 and 1920 was to American Impressionists Childe Hassam, Theodore
Robinson, John Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, and their followers. These artists
and writers came together to work in the modest Cos Cob section of Greenwich,
Connecticut, testing new styles and new themes in the stimulating company
of colleagues. This beautiful book is the first to examine the art colony
at Cos Cob and the role it played in the development of American Impressionist
art.During the art-colony period, says Susan Larkin, Greenwich was changing
from a farming and fishing community to a prosperous suburb of New York.
The artists who gathered in Cos Cob produced work that reflects the resulting
tensions between tradition and modernity, nature and technology, and country
and city. The artists' preferred subjects -- colonial architecture, quiet
landscapes, contemplative women -- held a complex significance for them,
which Larkin explores. Drawing on maritime history, garden design, women's
studies, and more, she places the art colony in its cultural and historical
context and reveals unexpected depth in paintings of enormous popular appeal."
Yale University Press says: "During the art-colony period, says Susan
Larkin, Greenwich was changing from a farming and fishing community to a
prosperous suburb of New York. The artists who gathered in Cos Cob produced
work that reflects the resulting tensions between tradition and modernity,
nature and technology, and country and city. The artists' preferred subjects-colonial
architecture, quiet landscapes, contemplative women-held a complex significance
for them, which Larkin explores. Drawing on maritime history, garden design,
women's studies, and more, she places the art colony in its cultural and
historical context and reveals unexpected depth in paintings of enormous
popular appeal." Note: Google Books
offers a Limited Preview of this book. For more information on this and
other digitizing initiatives from publishers please click here
and here. (left: front
cover, The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore,
image courtesy Google Books)
American Art Colonies, 1850-1930: A Historical Guide
to America's Original Art Colonies and Their Artists,
By Steve Shipp. Published 1996 by Greenwood Publishing Group. Art, Modern.
192 pages. ISBN:0313296197. Google Books says: "Some of America's most
influential artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are featured,
along with a concise overview of the colonie
s in which they
worked. These colonies ranged from Carmel-Monterey in California to Gloucester-Rockport
in Massachusetts to Taos and Santa Fe in New Mexico. Some of the artists
are famous today, such as Georgia O'Keeffe, while others were well known
at the time and added to the name recognition of their particular colonies.
Scholars, students, and anyone interested in American Art History will find
valuable information on how the closeness of colonies can affect and influence
artists. For most artists, interest in art colonies began in the mid-1800s
in Europe, where they had gone to live, work, and study. On returning to
America, they continued what they believed was a practice that benefited
their personal maturity as professional artists--living in a major city
such as New York during the winter and spending summers with other working
artists in art colonies. The impact of those early artists can be seen in
the paintings of many of today's artists." Note: Google
Books offers a Limited Preview of this book. For more information on
this and other digitizing initiatives from publishers please click here and here.
also see:
The Bayou Painters: South Alabama's Art Colony (1946-1953). by Lynn Barstis Williams (Author), Paul W. Richelson (Introduction), Mobile Museum of Art (2006)
New Hope for American Art. by Jim Alterman. 612 pages. Mr Alterman says: "... The book contains 165 individual artist chapters by works of The Pennsylvania Impressionists, Philadelphia Ten, and New Hope Modernists including: Daniel Garber, Edward Redfield, George Sotter, Arthur Meltzer, Robert Spencer, William Lathrop, Kenneth Nunamaker, John Folinsbee, Henry Snell, W.F. Taylor, Fern Coppedge, M. E. Price, Clarence Johnson, S George Phillips, Rae Sloan Bredin, Walter Baum, Morgan Colt, Charles Rosen, Meierhans, Ramsey, Stone, Evans, Zenk....... It also includes important information on collecting, values and opportunities, and helpful charts showing appreciation and past performance at auction by these artists. An invaluable tool to help train the collector's eye." Accessed July, 2015
Rocky Neck Art Colony 1850 - 1950,
by Judith Curtis, 2008, 160 pages, 9 x 12 inches, 130 color illustrations.
Rocky Neck Historic Art Trail
says of the book: "The Rocky Neck Art Colony is pleased to announce
the publication of its new book, Rocky Neck Art Colony 1850-1950,
by art historian and writer Judith Curtis, designed by Stephen Bridges.
The book details the art, lives, and interactions of the great artists who
painted Rocky Neck and its environs. Images of works by Fitz Henry Lane,
Winslow Homer, Gordon Grant, Frank Duveneck, Childe Hassam, Theresa Bernstein,
Cecilia Beaux, Mary Bryan, Umberto Romano, and many others are beautifully
reproduced and accompany the text of this fascinating and lovely book."
accessed 7/29/13
DVD/VHS videos:
says: "This film studies four colonies:
Cos Cob and Old Lyme, Connecticut, Shinnecock, Long Island, and Laguna
Beach, California... Each colony had its own unique flavor. Each colony
had a devoted core of resident artists. Each colony possessed a distinctive
geographic location. The common thread connecting them was the rise and
spread of impressionist practices in America. Painting en plein air, artists
explored the landscape around them: domesticated in some areas, much more
primitive in others, but yet all painted with the verve, color, and spontaneity
that define American Impressionist painting... Art Colonies in America
presents the backdrop from which Impressionism emerged in Europe and was
adopted by American painters. Visually spectacular and painstakingly researched,
the film offers viewers a comprehensive and fascinating account of this
defining moment in the history of American painting."
TFAO does not maintain a lending library of videos or sell videos. Click here for information on how to borrow or purchase copies of VHS videos and DVDs listed in TFAO's Videos -DVD/VHS, an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format
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