Historic American Art Colonies
Books: Sampler
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
Return to Art Colonies
American Academy in Rome through Cragsmoor Art Colony
Dixie Art Colony/Alabama Gulf Coast Colony through Lyme Art Colony
MacDowell Art Colony through North Conway Art Colony
Ogunquit Art Colony through Roycroft Art Colony
San Diego Art Colony through Stone City Art Colony
Taos Art Colony through Yaddo Art Colony
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States Art Colonies
Midwestern States Art Colonies
Rocky Mountain and Southwestern States Art Colonies
Return to Topics in American Representational Art
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