Periods, Groups & Movements: "The Ten"
(also see Boston School)

The Ten
Seated L to R: Edward Simmons, Willard Metcalf, Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, and Robert Reid

Standing L to R: William M. Chase, Frank W. Benson, Edmund C. Tarbell, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, and Joseph R. DeCamp. John Twachtman is not shown in this 1908 photo, as he was replaced, upon his death in 1902 by Mr. Chase.


 
On December 17, 1897, ten American painters came together to form a group entitled ... well, "Ten American Painters." The purpose was to establish a group through which their works might be exhibited in a mutually beneficial manner.

On March 31, 1898, the group held its first joint exhibit at Durand-Ruel Gallery in New York City. As a founding principle each member agreed to exhibit at an annual show and to add additional members only by unanimous consent. They continued to do this very thing for a period of some 20 years.

The Ten American Painters resigned from the Society of American Artists in late 1897 or early 1898 to protest the large size and commercialism of that group's exhibitions.

The Ten were Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, John Henry Twachtman, Robert Reid, Willard Metcalf, Frank Weston Benson, Edmund Charles Tarbell, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Joseph DeCamp, and Edward Simmons. When Twachtman died in 1902, William Merritt Chase joined in his place. Abbott Handerson Thayer and Winslow Homer were asked to join the group when it was formed, however they refused.

All of the Ten were active in either New York City or Boston. All were influenced by Impressionism.
Thomas Wilmer Dewing: Beauty into Art: A Catalogue Raisonné by Susan A. Hobbs, Shoshanna Abeles – Hardcover: 1056 pages; (Nov 13, 2018)

Best known for his interiors and landscapes featuring beautiful women in artful poses and subtly related color harmonies, Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851–1938) lived and worked at the forefront of developments in modern American art.

Impressionist Summers: Frank W. Benson's North Haven by Faith Andrews Bedford – Hardcover: 128 pages; Skira Rizzoli (Jun 26, 2012)

A beautifully illustrated book devoted to Impressionist Frank W. Benson’s life and work in Maine, where he spent summers creating the sun-drenched paintings that define American plein-air painting. The summer of 2012—the 150th anniversary of Frank W. Benson’s birth—marks the opening of an exhibition organized by the Farnsworth Art Museum focusing on Benson’s life and work at his summer home on North Haven Island, at Wooster Farm. It was there that he painted almost all of his brilliant, light-filled Impressionist paintings, launched his prolific etching career, and began his highly successful watercolor period.

Art of Frank W. Benson: American Impressionist by Frank Weston Benson – Paperback: 197 pages; Peabody Essex Museum Dist A/C (Jul 13, 2006)

Although Bedford's title, "Frank W. Benson, American Impressionist" suggests an emphasis on his impressionist work, the book also shows other painting styles. During his lifetime Benson won most of the awards any artist could. Reading the book enables one to understand clearly why.

Twachtman in Gloucester. His Last Years, 1900-1902 by John Douglass, Richard J. Boyle, and William H. Gerdts, Essayists Hale – Paperback; Ira Spanierman Gallery (1987)


John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist by Lisa N. Peters – Hardcover: 192 pages; Hudson Hills (May 25, 1999)

Peters, a preeminent Twachtman scholar, has written a wonderful collection of essays to accompany the traveling Twachtman exhibition organized by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Anyone unfamiliar with Twachtman's life and work need not consult other sources (although Peters dutifully acknowledges the foundation research of earlier scholars). Organizing his text by time period, Peters methodically traces the development of Twachtman's art from his early years in Cincinnati (1835-75) through his death in Gloucester, MA, in 1902. If there is any doubt of Twachtman's mastery as an impressionist, one has only to gaze at any of the fall or winter landscapes that are beautifully reproduced in this volume, along with dozens of other examples from his oeuvre. Oddly, there is neither a table of contents nor a separate list of exhibited works and their provenance. Warmly recommended for most public and academic libraries. —Steven Thomas, Central Michigan Univ. Lib., Mt. Pleasant Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

John Twachtman: Connecticut Landscapes by Deborah Chotner, Lisa N. Peters, Kathleen A. Pyne – Hardcover: 120 pages; Harry N. Abrams Inc; 1st edition (Feb 1, 1990)


In the Sunlight: The Floral and Figurative Art of John Henry Twachtman by Lisa Peters – Paperback: 104 pages; Spanierman Gallery (May 1989)

One of the most original artists among the American Impressionists and a member of the Ten American Painters, John Twachtman (1853-1902) created his best known work on his property in Greenwich, Connecticut, from 1889 to 1902. This exhibition catalogue focuses on a select group of Twachtman's Greenwich works: his vibrant and sensuous images in oil and pastel of flowers in the wild and in the artist's own garden as well as rare figurative images, in which Twachtman depicted his family in casual outdoor settings. Within this 104-page publication are essays by Richard J. Boyle, William H. Gerdts, John Douglass Hale, and Lisa N. Peters. Each of the twenty works in the show are illustrated in color and there are an additional eighteen color and twenty-four black and white illustrations.

John Twachtman (Famous Artists) by Richard J. Boyle – Paperback: 88 pages; Watson-Guptill (Jul 1, 1988)

The first full-scale, illustrated study of the life and work of one of the most original American painters of the 19th century.

Frank W. Benson: American Impressionist by Faith Andrews Bedford – Hardcover: 240 pages; Rizzoli (Aug 3, 1994)

Reader review: Dynamite art book; also a great read! I had thought that Benson was strictly a painter of Victorian era young ladies in seaside settings. This bio (by a descendent) fleshes out his various careers as a painter of oils, a teacher, a water colorist and whatever is the correct term for one who creates etchings. Also provides a good overview of the American art scene (especially "The Ten") during the transition from the 19th to the 20th century.

Frank W. Benson the Impressionist Years by Wilmerding – Paperback: 74 pages; Spanierman Gallery (Jun 1, 1988)

A prominent figure in the Boston School and a member of the Ten American painters, Frank W. Benson executed a spectacular group of Impressionist works between 1897 and 1920 during summers spent on North Haven Island, Maine. Depicting his wife and daughters at leisure in the outdoors, Benson created vivid sunlit images expressive of the idyllic pleasures of endless August afternoons on a breezy, refreshing coastal landscape. This 74-page catalogue includes essays by Sheila Dugan, William H. Gerdts, and John Wilmerding. In addition to color illustrations of the twelve works in the show, there are ten color and twenty-two black and white reproductions.

Commerce and Agriculture Bringing Wealth to Detroit: A Mural by Thomas Wilmer Dewing by Bailey Van Hook Paperback: 24 pages; Spanierman Gallery (1998)

This 24-page catalogue, including illustrations in color and black and white is by Bailey Van Hook, associate professor of art and art history at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia. The text provides an overview of Thomas Dewing's career and discusses the influences on the mural including James McNeill Whistler and the American mural movement. She details the commission of this important mural, which was installed in the Detroit Savings Bank in 1900, as well as the roles of the entrepreneur-collector Charles Lang Freer and of the prominent architect Stanford White. Van Hook's discussion of the mural's iconography, style, and critical reception reveals why this work is such a tour-de-force, encapsulating the ideals of the turn-of-the-century aesthetic era in America.

Edmund C. Tarbell: Poet of Domesticity by Laurene Buckley, Edmund Charles Tarbell – Hardcover: 139 pages; Hudson Hills Press (Nov, 2001)

This elegant volume presents Tarbell's finest work in the context of a biographical text filled with fascinating quotations from the artist's contemporaries.

Edmund C. Tarbell and the Boston School of Painting, 1889-1980 by Patricia Jobe Pierce – Hardcover: 253 pages; Pierce Galleries, Inc; 1st edition (Dec 1980)


Impressionism in America: The Ten American Painters by Ulrich W. Hiesinger – Hardcover: 255 pages; Prestel Pub (May 1, 1991)

Noted art historian Hiesinger chronicles the rise of Impressionism in America through the works of the group of American painters known as The Ten who "fundamentally altered the relationship of the artist to his audience." These painters included Childe Hassam, William Merritt Chase, Thomas Wilmer Dowing, and Edmund Charles Tarbell. The canvases of The Ten, who never became a formal school, range from scenes of domestic life to the depiction of bridges and factories to allegories, presented here in 89 vivid color plates and 77 black-and-white illustrations and accompanied by contemporary photographs.

The Ten by Patricia Jobe Pierce, Richard H. Love (Introduction) – Hardcover: 201 pages; Pierce Galleries; 1st edition (1976)

Frank W. Benson, Joseph R. DeCamp, Thomas W. Dewing, Childe Hassam, Willard L. Metcalf, Robert Reid, Edward Simmons, Edmund C. Tarbell, John ... Merritt Chase (who replaced Twachtman, 1902)

John Twachtman: A "Painter's Painter" by Lisa N. Peters – Hardcover: 256 pages; Spanierman Gallery (2006)


Impressionism Transformed: The Paintings of Edmund C. Tarbell by Susan Strickler, Linda J. Docherty, Erica E. Hirshler – Paperback: 176 pages; Currier Gallery of Art; 1st edition (Feb 1, 2002)


A Connecticut Place: Weir Farm, An American Painter's Rural Retreat by Nicolai Cikovsky Jr., Elizabeth Milroy, Harold Spencer, Hildegard Cummings – Paperback: 115 pages; Weir Farm Trust in collaboration with the National Park Service, Weir Farm National Historic Site (Apr, 2000)

A Connecticut Place: Weir Farm, An American Painter's Rural Retreat is a primary text on the 19th century American artist J. Alden Weir and his Branchville, CT home, now known as Weir Farm National Historic Site. The 116-page soft-bound, 9" x 12" catalogue that accompanied the same-titled exhibition, is amply illustrated in color and black and white.

With an introduction by Nicolai Cikovsky, Curator of American and British Art at the National Gallery of Art, essays by the Exhibition Curators Hildegard Cummings and Harold Spencer, both leading experts on Weir, and by Elizabeth Milroy, Professor of Art History at Wesleyan University, A Connecticut Place presents Weir's art within the social, intellectual and physical environment in which it was produced. It also presents Weir's Branchville home as a creative focus for his art and a gathering place for many prominent members of the turn-of-the-century American art community, among them Childe Hassam, John Twachtman, Emil and Denis Carlsen, Albert Pinkham Ryder, John Ferguson Weir and John Singer Sargent.

J. Alden Weir: A Place of His Own by Hildegard Cummings, Helen K. Fusscas, Susan G. Larkin – Paperback: University of Connecticut (Jun 1, 1991)


J. Alden Weir: An American Impressionist by Doreen Bolger Burke – Paperback; University of Delaware Press, 1983

Julian Alden Weir (1852-1919) was one of the first and most distinguished of the American impressionist painters, but by the middle of this century his artistic accomplishments had been all but forgotten. In this book, the author describes the artist's development and career in an effort to restore him to his rightful place within the context of his period. It contains a catalogue of the works in Weir's 1983 retrospective exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (American Art Series.) Illustrated.

Willard Metcalf (1858-1925), Yankee Impressionist by Richard J. Boyle, Bruce W. Chambers, William H. Gerdts – Hardcover: 151 pages; Spanierman Gallery (Jan 2003)

Produced for the exhibition at Spanierman Gallery in 2003. Essays by Richard J. Boyle, Bruce W. Chambers and William H. Gerdts.

Winter's Promise: Willard Metcalf in Cornish, New Hampshire, 1909-1920 by Barbara J. MacAdam, Willard Leroy Metcalf, Hood Museum of Art – Paperback (Dec 1998)


Ten American Painters by William H. Gerdts – Paperback: 187 pages; Spanierman Gallery; 1st edition (May 1, 1990)

This lavishly illustrated, 188-page volume includes an introduction by William H. Gerdts and essays by experts on the individual artists in this group to which many of the best-known American artists of the late nineteenth century belonged: Frank W. Benson, William Merritt Chase, Joseph DeCamp, Thomas W. Dewing, Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf, Robert Reid, Edward Simmons, Edmund C. Tarbell, John H. Twachtman, and J. Alden Weir. In addition to color images of the eleven works in the exhibition, there are thirty-six color plates and over one hundred black and white illustrations, many of rediscovered works. Providing a comprehensive survey of the Ten's twenty-one years of existence and a study of each members' participation in the group, this catalogue is of great value to American art history.

Joseph DeCamp: The Boston Technician by Laurene Buckley – Hardcover: 160 pages; Neues Publishing Company, 1997


The Art of Thomas Wilmer Dewing: Beauty Reconfigured by Susan A. Hobbs, Barbara Dayer Gallati – Paperback: 240 pages; Smithsonian (Mar 17, 1996)

Beautifully illustrated photographs and color reproductions of the artist work.


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