Works – New Web objects Landscape – Collections – Terra Foundation for American Art

Theodore Robinson

Date: c. 1891

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Gift of Mr. Ira Spanierman

Object number: C1985.1.8

Text Entries: Mayer, Stephanie. First Exposure: The Sketchbooks and Photographs of Theodore Robinson. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Fig. 1, p. 8 (color). Mayer, Stephanie. Theodore Robinson. Esquisses et photographies. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Fig. 1, p. 8 (color). Cartwright, Derrick R. Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text p. 21; fig. 17, p. 21 (black & white). Cartwright, Derrick R. Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text p. 21; fig. 17, p. 21 (black & white). Johnston, Sona. In Monet's Light: Theodore Robinson at Giverny. (exh. cat., The Baltimore Museum of Art). Baltimore, Maryland: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2004. Fig. 1, p. 124 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M. et al. Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915. (exh. cat. Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. Text p. 184, 210 (checklist); cat. p. 185 (color). Bricker, Rebecca. The Secret of Marie: a French art-history mystery set in Monet’s Garden. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015. Ill. p. 211 (black & white).

Group of Four Women and Child

Theodore Robinson

Date: undated

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Gift of Mr. Ira Spanierman

Object number: C1985.1.9

House and Garden with Figure

Theodore Robinson

Date: undated

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Gift of Mr. Ira Spanierman

Object number: C1985.1.15

Text Entries: Johnston, Sona. In Monet's Light: Theodore Robinson at Giverny. (exh. cat., The Baltimore Museum of Art). Baltimore, Maryland: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2004. Fig. 1, p. 129 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M. et al. Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915. (exh. cat. Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. Text p. 184, 210 (checklist); cat. p. 185 (color).

From the Hill, Giverny

Theodore Robinson

Date: c. 1889–92

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1987.6

Text Entries: John Leslie Breck, Theodore Robinson, and Guy Rose were inspired by the undulating landscape surrounding Giverny. Using the hillside as motif, these American artists investigated the changing light and color of the four seasons. Simultaneously with Monet, Robinson experimented with atmospheric conditions, seasonal changes, and different times of day through sequential painting, choosing panoramic views of the Seine River Valley. Soft, fragmented color and hazy atmospheric effects are contrasted against strong diagonals and high horizon lines in his summer landscape From the Hill as well as in Winter Landscape done the same year. Breck dissolves landscape forms in an autumnal light in Giverny Hillside where the built-up paint on the surface adds a physical dimension that contributes to the painting's luminous effect. Painter Guy Rose praised the inspiring Giverny views, "High walls surround picturesque gardens; and long hillsides, checkered with patches of different vegetable growth, slope down to low flat meadows..." In Rose's Giverny Hillside, the qualities of springtime's gentle light, broken brushwork and a simplified color palette reveal the artist's increased involvement with impressionism. Indeed, the sloping hillside garden behind his house may well have been the inspiration for this colorful canvas.

Winter Landscape

Theodore Robinson

Date: 1889

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1999.128

Text Entries: John Leslie Breck, Theodore Robinson, and Guy Rose were inspired by the undulating landscape surrounding Giverny. Using the hillside as motif, these American artists investigated the changing light and color of the four seasons. Simultaneously with Monet, Robinson experimented with atmospheric conditions, seasonal changes, and different times of day through sequential painting, choosing panoramic views of the Seine River Valley. Soft, fragmented color and hazy atmospheric effects are contrasted against strong diagonals and high horizon lines in his summer landscape From the Hill as well as in Winter Landscape done the same year. Breck dissolves landscape forms in an autumnal light in Giverny Hillside where the built-up paint on the surface adds a physical dimension that contributes to the painting's luminous effect. Painter Guy Rose praised the inspiring Giverny views, "High walls surround picturesque gardens; and long hillsides, checkered with patches of different vegetable growth, slope down to low flat meadows..." In Rose's Giverny Hillside, the qualities of springtime's gentle light, broken brushwork and a simplified color palette reveal the artist's increased involvement with impressionism. Indeed, the sloping hillside garden behind his house may well have been the inspiration for this colorful canvas.

Snow Scene with House

Theodore Robinson

Date: c. 1892

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Gift of Mr. Ira Spanierman

Object number: C1985.1.24

Text Entries: Peters, Lisa N. John Henry Twachtman: An American Impressionist. (exh. cat., High Museum of Art). Atlanta, Georgia: High Museum of Art, 1999. Text p. 99; fig. 52, p. 99 (black & white). Mayer, Stephanie. First Exposure: The Sketchbooks and Photographs of Theodore Robinson. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text p. 40; fig. 25, p. 40 (color). Mayer, Stephanie. Theodore Robinson. Esquisses et photographies. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text p. 40; fig. 25, p. 40 (color). Larkin, Susan G. The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore. (exh. cat. National Academy of Design, New York.) New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2001. Text pp. 178–86; ill. p. 181 (black & white).Peters, Lisa N. Life and Art: The Greenwich Paintings of John Henry Twachtman. (exh. cat. Greenwich Historical Society, Connecticut). Cos Cob, Connecticut: Greenwich Historical Society, 2021. Text pp. 32; fig. 21 p. 33 (color).

Etude pour "Vallée de la Seine vue des hauteurs de Giverny"

Theodore Robinson

Date: 1892

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1992.9

Text Entries: Robinson, who had studied in Paris in the 1870s and then had worked predominantly in the Barbizon area, established a lasting friendship with Claude Monet in Giverny. For most of the time between 1888 and 1892, Robinson lived in Giverny and produced a prolific body of impressionist landscapes. He painted the village and its surroundings from different vantage points, including views from the hillside, as in this painting, a study for "Valley of the Seine from Giverny Heights" (in The Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.).

Canal Scene

Theodore Robinson

Date: 1893

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection

Object number: 1992.131

Text Entries: Taft, Dorado. "American Pictures in Paris." Chicago Record 12 (July 1900): 113. Text p. 113. Baur, John I. H. Theodore Robinson 1853–1896. (exh. cat., The Brooklyn Museum). Brooklyn, New York: The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1946. Cat. no. 35, p. 59 (as Canal Scene, Autumn). Johnston, Sona. Theodore Robinson 1852–1896. (exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art). Baltimore, Maryland: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1973. Text no. 52, pp. 52–53; ill. no. 52, p. 52 (black & white). The Magazine Antiques 107 (January 1975): 29. Ill. p. 29 (color). Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. (exh. cat., Henry Art Gallery). Seattle, Washington: Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, 1980. Text p. 138 (checklist); ill. p. 52 (color). Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-80, p. 189 (color). Gerdts, William H. et al. Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text pp. 54–55; fig. 48, p. 55 (black & white). Gerdts, William H. et al. Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1992. Text pp. 54–55; fig. 48, p. 55 (black & white). Bourguignon, Katherine M. American Impressionism: A New Vision 1880-1900. (exh. cat., Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, National Galleries of Scotland, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). Giverny, France: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, 2014. (English, French and Spanish versions). Ill. p. 101 (color).