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The Home of the Red, White, and Blue

Lilly Martin Spencer

Date: c. 1867–68

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund

Object number: 2007.1

Text Entries: Orange, Judd, and Company. “A Beautiful Gift. A Picture for the Home Circle. ‘Dandelion Time.’ by Mrs. Lilly M. Spencer.” Hearth and Home (January 14, 1871): 36. Text p. 36. Orange, Judd, and Company. “A Beautiful Gift. A Picture for the Home Circle. ‘Dandelion Time.’ by Mrs. Lilly M. Spencer.” Hearth and Home (February 25, 1871): 156. Text p. 156. Orange, Judd, and Company. “A Beautiful Gift. A Picture for the Home Circle. ‘Dandelion Time.’ by Mrs. Lilly M. Spencer.” Hearth and Home (April 8, 1871): 276. Text p. 276. Orange, Judd, and Company. “A Beautiful Gift. A Picture for the Home Circle. ‘Dandelion Time.’ by Mrs. Lilly M. Spencer.” Hearth and Home (July 8, 1871): 535. Text p. 535. Bolton-Smith, Robin and William Truettner. Lilly Martin Spencer, 1822–1902: The Joys of Sentiment. (exh. cat., National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C.) Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1973. Text, p. 189. American Paintings, 1850–1965. (exh. cat., Spanierman Gallery, New York, New York). New York, New York: Spanierman Gallery. Text, p. 6; ill. no. 6, p. 6 (color). Conner, Holly Pyne. Angels and Tomboys: Girlhood in Nineteenth-century American Art. (exh. cat., Newark Museum). Newark, New Jersey: Newark Museum, 2012. Text pp. 21, 23–24, 174 (checklist); ill. fig. 1, opposite p. 11(color). Leggio, Gail. “Angels and Tomboys: Picturing the American Girl.” American Arts Quarterly 30 (Winter 2013): 23–31. Text p. 24. Brownlee, Peter John, Sarah Burns, Diane Dillon, Daniel Greene, and Scott Manning Stevens. Home Front: Daily Life in the Civil War North.(exh. cat., Terra Foundation for American Art and Newberry Library). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013. Text pp. 11, 102–103, 114, 116, 117–118, 121–122, 123, 125, 164 (checklist), 178n33, 178n34, 1789n43; ill. p. 100, fig. 58 (color), p. 201, fig. 59 (color detail). Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865–1945. (exh. cat. Shanghai Museum with Art Institute of Chicago and Terra Foundation for American Art). Shanghai: Shanghai Museum, 2018. Text p. 20; ill. p. 21 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text pp. 84-86, 95; fig. 4, p. 85; ill. p. 95 (color).

Construction

Max Weber

Date: 1915

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

Object number: 1987.31

Text Entries: Though born in Russia, at the age of ten Max Weber moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York. After art training at the Pratt Institute, he returned to Europe and studied in Paris from 1905 to 1908. These years were crucial to Weber's development as a painter: he helped to found the New Society of American Artists in Paris, exhibited at the Salon d'Automne in 1908 and established himself in avant-garde artistic circles. Returning to the United States, Weber assumed an active role in introducing modernism to America as he restlessly searched to uncover the underlying structure of objects and define a twentieth-century artistic language. Even though he received discouraging and often abusive criticism from the art press, he continued to draw inspiration from the French avant-garde. Construction was painted at a time when Weber was America's leading experimenter in the cubist idiom. Despite the architectural association of its title, Construction is similar to a series of landscape scenes that Weber produced during the same year, and the rich earth tones of brown, blue and green also evoke nature. Weber, however, consciously converted three-dimensional natural forms onto canvas by fracturing surfaces into planes and facets that produce multiple views and perspectives. After 1920, his modernism evolved into a more figurative style that addressed post-World War I social changes and problems. Until the end, Weber fluctuated between abstraction and representation, never completely abandoning his cubist experiments or his expressionistic human figures.

A Chelsea Shop

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Date: c. 1894–95

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

Object number: 1992.148

Text Entries: Although born in the United States, James McNeill Whistler made England his adopted home, and these two works depict shops in his London neighborhood. Architectural elements are the focus of these paintings: the windows and doorways become a study of shapes, colors, and composition. The ambiguity of the scenes further obscures any narrative. Are the figures in the doorways going in, coming out, or just relaxing? There is a suggestion of action yet observance of activity goes unfulfilled. The works present an unassuming image of a particular place and time observed by Whistler, with figures-as does the viewer-peering curiously in windows and doorways.

Carlyle's Sweetstuff Shop

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Date: c. 1887

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

Object number: 1992.147

Super Table

Stuart Davis

Date: 1925

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

Object number: 1999.37

Text Entries: The son of two artists, Stuart Davis grew up with family friends such as John Sloan, George Luks, and Robert Henri. Davis enjoyed an art career that spanned five decades and by the early 1940s was acknowledged as an important figure in twentieth-century American art. Davis's formal art training began at the young age of sixteen when he enrolled in Robert Henri's newly opened school in New York. Three years later, five of his watercolors were included in the pivotal exhibition of modern art, the 1913 Armory Show. This show also initiated Davis's interest in European modernist movements. In particular, the work of Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh greatly appealed to Davis for their depictions embodied his ideal that even abstract art had subject matter. If Davis's work shows an influence of European art, it is always fused with American elements. In a list of items that determined his abstract paintings, for example, he included: "Civil War and skyscraper architecture; the brilliant colors on gasoline stations; chain-store fronts and taxicabs; the music of Bach; synthetic chemistry; the poetry of Rimbaud; fast travel by train, auto and airplane which brought new and multiple perspectives; electric signs; the landscape and boats of Gloucester, Mass.; 5 and 10 cent store kitchen utensils; movies and radio; etc." Super Table-a modern twist on the traditional still life-represents a pivotal stage in Davis's oeuvre, before recognizable subject matter is subsumed to form and color.

Peinture

Patrick Henry Bruce

Date: 1917–18

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

Object number: 1999.21

Text Entries: Only recently has Patrick Henry Bruce come to be understood as a pioneering American modernist. The great-great-grandson of the American statesman Patrick Henry (known for his imperative "give me liberty or give me death"), Bruce was born in the United States but spent most of his adult life in France. In New York, Bruce studied with William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri; later, in Paris, he became a friend and student of Henri Matisse. Bruce was well-versed in contemporary art theory and often frequented the salons of Gertrude and Leo Stein in Paris. His friends included the French artists Sonia and Robert Delauney as well as the Americans Edward Hopper, Man Ray, and Guy Pène du Bois. It was the work of French artist Paul Cézanne with its emphasis on underlying form, however, that Bruce was most drawn to. A consummate perfectionist, Bruce destroyed work that he felt was not up to his standards and left behind only around one hundred objects. Among the twenty-five surviving abstract still lifes, Peinture holds a distinct place as the first in a series. With its simplified, architectonic forms seen from multiple points-of-view, Peinture is a synthesis of Bruce's earlier stylistic excursions exploring structure and colored shapes. In 1930, Bruce stopped exhibiting his work. A fear that his art could not be understood in his lifetime coupled with a growing sense of dislocation led him to abandon painting in 1936. This same year he returned to New York from Europe-having already destroyed much of his work and personal papers-and took his own life.

Portrait of Mrs. John Stevens (Judith Sargent, later Mrs. John Murray)

John Singleton Copley

Date: 1770–72

Credit Line: Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Art Acquisition Endowment Fund

Object number: 2000.6

Text Entries: Ostensibly commissioned on the occasion of her marriage at the age of eighteen, the portrait of the young Mrs. John Stevens serves as a commemoration of her youth and beauty and of her family's wealth. Fashionable in her uncorseted, draped satin dress and an exotic "oriental" turban on her head, she balances on her leg a basket of flowers, emblematic of love, beauty and fecundity. Today, the portrait, with its inclusion of formulaic associations to the "feminine," seems ironic: already a diligent diarist, Judith Sargent later became one of Boston's most celebrated writers and an activist for women's equality. Similar in subject is Frederick MacMonnies' painting of the young, intelligent and wealthy Alice Jones. MacMonnies depicts his future wife's fashionable persona; dressed in an elaborate, feathered hat and brilliant red dress, she sits against a blue-green tapestry in his studio. Rather than using emblems to convey meaning, MacMonnies' handling of paint-the bravura brushstrokes-not only animate the composition but also suggests the intensity of the sitter's personality. Yet, MacMonnies, like Copley, concerns himself less with a character study than with the external realities of the sitter's beauty and social position.

The Wedding March

Theodore Robinson

Date: 1892

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

Object number: 1999.127

Text Entries: Robinson, Theodore. Theodore Robinson’s Diary vol. 1 (1852–1896). Entry: August 5th 1892, Giverny. 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. Text no. 255, pp. 10, 33, 80. Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (Sale 1613, October 14–15, 1955): lot 119. Text p. 22, lot 119 (as Going to Church). Naylor, Maria. Theodore Robinson, American Impressionist (1852–1896). (exh. cat., Kennedy Galleries). New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1966. Text p. 14. Baur John H. Three Nineteenth Century American Painters: John Quidor, Eastman Johnson, Theodore Robinson. Brooklyn, New York: The Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1969. Text pp. 33, 80 (checklist), cat. no. 255. Three Nineteenth Century American Painters: John Quidor, Eastman Johnson, Theodore Robinson. Brooklyn, New York: The Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1969. Text p. 80, no. 255. 19th-Century American Paintings and Sculpture: An Exhibition in Celebration of the Hundredth Anniversary of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970. Ill. no. 187 (black & white). Baur John H, Hills Patricia. 18th- and 19th- Century American Art from Private Collections. (exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art). New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1972. Text, cat. no. 61 (checklist). Johnston, Sona. Theodore Robinson 1852–1896. (exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art). Baltimore, Maryland: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1973. Text pp. 42 (checklist, cat. no. 41), 91; ill. p. 42, no. 41 (black & white). Clark, Eliot. Theodore Robinson: His Life and Art. Chicago, Illinois: R. H. Love Galleries, 1979. Ill. pl. 2 (color). Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. (exh. cat., Henry Art Gallery). Seattle, Washington: Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, 1980. Text pp. 54, 137 (checklist); ill. p. 8 (color). Sellin, David. Americans in Brittany and Normandy. (exh. cat., Phoenix Art Museum). Phoenix, Arizona: Phoenix Art Museum, 1982. Text p. 201; ill. front cover (color), p. 204, no. 88 (color). Adams, Henry. "Private Collector to Public Champion." Portfolio 5 (January/February 1983): 52. Text p. 52. The Journal of the American Medical Association (June 17, 1983): cover. Ill. cover (color). Hemphill, Christopher. "Daniel Terra and His Museum." Town & Country (February 1984): 195. Text p. 195. Sokol, David M. "The Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois." The Magazine Antiques 126, no. 5 (November 1984): 1156–69. Ill. p. 1163, pl. XVIII (color). Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. New York: Abbeville Press, 1984. Text p. 73; ill. p. 56, pl. 41 (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. Ill. p. 188, pl. T-79 (color). Gaehtgnes, Thomas W., ed. Bilder aus der Neuen Welt. Amerikanische Malerei des 18. Und 19. Jahrhunderts. (exh. cat., Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalerie, Orangerie des Schlosses Charlottenburg, Berlin). Muenchen, Germany: Prestel Verlag, 1988. Text p. 84; ill. p. 84 (color). Shelby, Carole. American Painters in France, 1830–1930. (exh. cat. Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago: Terra Museum of American Art, 1989. Cat. no. 21. The Wedding March, Theodore Robinson. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, July 1991. Ill. (black & white). Johnson, Meredith. Lovers in Art. New York: Moore & Moore Publishing, 1991. Text p. 109; ill. pp. 5, 94, 109 (color). Montgomery, Elizabeth Miles. American Impressionists. New York: Crescent Books, 1991. Ill. p. 23 (color). De Vries-Evans, Susanna. The Impressionist Revealed: Masterpieces from Private Collections. Auckland, New Zealand: David Bateman Ltd., 1992. Ill. p 56 (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. 12, 54, 135, 139, 172; ill. p. 138, pl. 6 (color), jacket (color). 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. 12, 54, 135, 139, 172; ill. p. 138, pl. 6 (color), jacket (color). Martin, Jennifer et. al. L'art des États-Unis. Paris, France: Citadelles & Mazenod, 1992. Ill. p. 549 (black & white). Gerdts, William H. Monet's Giverny: An Impressionist Colony. New York: Abbeville Press, 1993. Text pp. 54, 125–26; ill. p. 114, pl. 101 (color detail), p. 127, pl. 110 (color). Gomes, Rosalie. Impressions of Giverny: A Painter's Paradise 1883–1914. San Francisco, California: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995. Text pp. 66, 68, 114; ill. p. 67, pl. 44 (color). Shipp, Steve. American Art Colonies 1850–1930. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996. Text p. 22. Regard sur cinq années d'expositions (Five years of Exhibitions at a Glance). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Text p. 43; ill. p. 40 (color). Gerdts, William H. American Impressionism. Second edition. New York: Abbeville Press, 2001. Text p. 73; ill. p. 56, pl. 41 (color). Kilmer, Nicholas, et al. Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist. (exh. cat., Telfair Museum of Art). Savannah, Georgia: Telfair Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2001. Ill. p. 82 (black & white). Mancoff, Debra N. Monet's Garden in Art. London, England: Frances Lincoln Limited, 2001. Ill. pp. 77 (color), 89 (color). Benesch, Evelyn and Ingried Brugger. Impressionismus: Amerika-Frankreich-Russland. (exh. cat., Kunstforum Wien). Vienna, Austria: Kunstforum Wien, 2002. Text pp. 19–20; ill. p. 19, pl. 11 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 21, 27, 120, 203–204; ill. pp. 12 (color), 121 (color), 203 (black & white). Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Un regard transatlantique. La collection d'art américain de Daniel J. Terra. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 21, 27, 120, 203–204; ill. pp. 12 (color), 121 (color), 203 (black & white). Kennedy, Elizabeth. "The Terra Museum of American Art." American Art Review (December 2002): 126–41. Text p. 129; ill. p. 136 (color). Mancoff, Debra. The Wedding March, Theodore Robinson. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 2003. Ill. (color). 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. Text pp. 91, 140, no. 34; ill. p. 141, no. 34 (color). Johnston, Sona. "Theodore Robinson at Giverny." American Art Review 16, no. 5 (September–October 2004): 124–33, 175. Ill. p. 127 (color). McNatt, Glenn. “Seeing the Light.” The Sun (October 16, 2004). Ill. front page (color). May, Stephen. “In Monet’s Light: Theodore Robinson at Giverny.” Antiques and the Arts Weekly (October 29, 2004): front page, pp. 40–41. Text p. 41; ill. p.41 (black & white). Johnston, Sona. “The Diary of Theodore Robinson, an American Impressionist.” The Magazine Antiques (November 2004): 128–138. Text p. 132; ill. p. 129 (black & white). May, Stephen. "Lessons Learned: Monet's Influence on Theodore Robinson." American Artist (April 2006): 48–53. Ill. p. 53. Adler, Kathleen et al. Americans in Paris, 1860–1900. (exh. cat. National Gallery of Art) London: National Gallery Company Limited, 2006. Text pp. 145, 254; ill. p. 147, cat. 76 (color), p. 254 (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 pp. 64, 132, 210 (checklist); ill. p. 123 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M. et al. Giverny Impressionniste: une colonie d’artistes, 1885–1915. (exh. cat. Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. Text pp. 64, 132, 210 (checklist); cat. p. 123 (color). Goldin, Marco ed. America! Storie di pittura dal Nuovo Mondo. (exh. cat., Brescia, Museo di Santa Giulia). Treviso, Italy: Linea d'ombra Libri, 2007. Text p. 335; ill. p. 335 (black & white). Goldin, Marco ed. America! Storie di pittura dal Nuovo Mondo (English Texts). (exh. cat., Brescia, Museo di Santa Giulia). Treviso, Italy: Linea d'ombra Libri, 2007. Text p. 137. Bourguignon, Katherine M. "Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France" American Art Review 20, no. 3 (June 2008): 100–113. Ill. p.101 (color). Genocchio, Benjamin. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/29artsct.html" target="_blank">“In the Spirit of Giverny, Americans in France.”</a>. New York Times (June 29, 2008). Accessed November 15, 2016. Text. Weinberg, H. Barbara and Carrie Rebora Barratt, eds. American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915. (exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2009. Text pp. 126–27, 212 (checklist); ill. p. 126, fig. 117 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M., Shunsuke Kijima and Sanjiro Minamikawa. Monet and the Artists of Giverny: The Beginning of American Impressionism. (exh. cat. Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, and The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art). Fukuoka, Japan: The Nishinippon Shimbun, 2010. Text cat. no. 60, pp. 109 (in Japanese), 187 (in English); ill. p. 109 (color). Art Across America. (exh. cat., National Museum of Korea, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Terra Foundation for American Art). Seoul, South Korea: National Museum of Korea, 2013. Text pp. 39, 225; ill. p. 39, fig. 39 (color), p. 225 (color). 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. Text pp. 30, 40; ill. p. 81 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M. L’impressionisme et les américains, 1880–1900. (exh. cat., Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, National Galleries of Scotland, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). Giverny, France: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, 2014. Text pp. 30, 40; ill. p. 81 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M. Impresionismo Americano. (exh. cat., Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, National Galleries of Scotland, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza). Madrid: Museo Thyssen Bornemisza, 2014. Text p. 30, 40; ill. p. 81 (color). Collet, Valérie. "L’impressionnisme, une passion américaine." Valeurs Actuelles (April 28, 2014). Accessed November 9, 2016.< a href="http://www.valeursactuelles.com/culture/limpressionnisme-une-passion-americaine-45086" target="_blank">http://www.valeursactuelles.com/culture/limpressionnisme-une-passion-americaine-45086</a>. Text. Cumming Laura, “American Impressionism: Review–Monet’s fans from across the (lily) pond.” The Guardian (August 17, 2014) Accessed November 15, 2016.<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/aug/17/american-impressionism-scottish-gallery-modern-art-observer-review" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/aug/17/american-impressionism-scottish-gallery-modern-art-observer-review</a>. Text. Pathways to Modernism: American Art, 1865-1945. (exh. cat. Shanghai Museum with Art Institute of Chicago and Terra Foundation for American Art). Shanghai: Shanghai Museum, 2018. Text p. 68; ill. p. 69 (color). Burdan, Amanda C. America’s Impressionism: Echoes of a Revolution. (exh. cat., Brandywine River Museum of Art). Chadds Ford, PA: Brandywine River Museum of Art; Memphis, TN: Dixon Gallery and Gardens; San Antonio, TX: San Antonio Museum of Art; distributed by Yale University Press, 2020. Text p. 107; ill. p. 108 (color). Standring, Timothy J., ed. Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France. (exh. cat., Denver Art Museum). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2021. Ill. p. 129 (color).