American Impressionism For Art Lovers

Impressionism is defined as the theory of method of suggesting an effect or impressionism without elaboration of details. Impressionism emerged as an artistic style in France in the 1860´s. Major exhibitions of French impressionist works in Boston and New York in the 1880s introduced the style to the American public. Impressionism, a style of painting characterized by loose brushwork and vivid colors, was practiced widely among American artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although American Impressionism was similar to their French counterparts, American impressionists depicted a lot more structure and realism in their work.

One of the first followers of American Impressionism was Theodore Roosevelt. He painted in the Impressionist style in the late 1880´s after visiting France and meeting artists like Monnet. . From the 1890s through the 1910s, American impressionism flourished in art colonies which were groups of artists who lived and worked together and shared a common aesthetic vision.

Art colonies were primarily formed in small towns that provided affordable living, abundant scenery for painting, and relatively easy access to large cities where artists could sold their work. Some of the most important American impressionist artists gathered at Cos Cob and Old Lyme Connecticut, both on Long Island Sound.

American impressionism also thrived in California at Carmel and Laguna Beach and in New York on eastern Long Island at Shinnecock, largely due to the influence of William Merrit Chase; and in Boston where Edmund Charles Tarbell and Frank Weston Benson became important practitioners of the impressionist style. However, American impressionism lost its prolific status in 1913 when a historical exhibition of modern art took place at the 69th Regiment Armory building in New York City.

The "Armory Show", as it came to be called, heralded a new painting style regarded as more in touch with the increasingly fast-paced and chaotic world, it continued this way until the early 1950´s. In the 1950s, a quarter of a century after the death of Monet, American impressionism made a comeback of sorts.

Major museums in America started having exhibitions of the original French Impressionists paintings, and in doing so American Impressionism was revived like a phoenix. American Impressionism is popular to this day and is characterized by asymmetrical balance, use of colored shadows and pure color or even broken brushstrokes. These characterstics, among many other things truly make American Impressionism an enigma and a treat for art lovers.