The Hammock

In The Hammock, Joseph Rodefer DeCamp portrays his wife, Edith Franklin Baker DeCamp, and the couple’s first two children, Sally and Ted, relaxing in a hammock at the family home in West Medford, Massachusetts. The composition focuses closely on the three figures, the horizon crowded out by the bower of greenery that encloses them. Dark-haired Edith, dressed in dramatic black and white against the pastel shades of the children’s clothing, extends her arms in a protective gesture that unites the three figures and creates a horizontal balance against the steep diagonals of the hammock’s edges. Sally’s direct glance contrasts with the pensive indirect gaze of her mother and the oblivion of the sleeping baby. Dappled light falls over the scene, rendered in small but evident parallel strokes of contrasting color.

In the early 1890s, DeCamp emerged as an important member of the so-called Boston school, a small group of Boston-based artists working in the mode known as impressionism, characterized by broken brushwork, contemporary subjects, and attention to outdoor light effects. These artists turned to their friends and family as models, often portraying them engaged in everyday activities, particularly outdoors. Edith frequently modeled for portraits and for such everyday scenes. A memento of family life, The Hammock also serves as a study of figures in natural light conditions. Although DeCamp was hailed in the mid-1890s as a plein-air painter—one who painted his outdoor works on site rather than in the studio—he may have completed The Hammock at leisure in his studio, contrary to orthodox impressionist methods. Regardless, it displays a degree of orderly control and detail, especially in the handling of the figures, that betrays DeCamp’s academic training and early immersion in careful drawing. Such respect for the pictorial integrity of the figure, often in contrast to looser painting of the natural surroundings, characterizes the outdoor figural work of many American impressionist painters.

[possibly exhibited] International Exposition of the Cotton States, Atlanta, Georgia, September 18–December 31, 1895, no. 155 [awarded Bronze Medal].

Impressionism in America: The Ten American Painters, The Jordan-Volpe Gallery, New York, New York, May 18–June 28, 1991. [exh. cat.]

Joseph De Camp: An American Impressionist, Adelson Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (organizer). Venue: Adelson Galleries, Inc., New York, New York, November 3–December 16, 1995.

Domestic Bliss: Family Life in America, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–June 22, 1997.

(Re)Presenting Women, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 16, 2001–January 13, 2002.

American Classics from the Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer).Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 14–June 15, 2003.

Visages de l'Amérique: de George Washington à Marilyn Monroe (Faces of America: From George Washington to Marilyn Monroe), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004. [exh. cat.]

Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940 (Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France and Miedzynarodowe Centrum Kultury (International Cultural Center), Crakow, Poland (organizers). Venue: International Cultural Center, Crakow, Poland, February 15–May 7, 2006. [exh. cat.]

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 15–October 31, 2007.

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2008.

Americans in Florence: Sargent and the American Impressionists, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi (organizer). Venue: Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy, March 2–July 15, 2012. [exh. cat].

The Magazine Antiques 139:6 (June 1991): 1024. Ill. p. 1024 (color).

Hiesinger, Ulrich W. Impressionism in America: The Ten American Painters. (exh. cat., The Jordan-Volpe Gallery). Munich, Germany: Prestel-Verlag, 1991. Text pp. 110, 236; pl. 44, p. 133 (color)

The Magazine Antiques 148 (November 1995): 561. Ill. p. 561 (color).

Buckley, Laurene. Joseph DeCamp: Master Painter of the Boston School. (exh. cat., Adelson Galleries, Inc.) Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1995. Text p. 44; ill. cover (color detail), pl. 10, p. 50 (color).

Bedford, Faith Andrews et al. The Art of Frank W. Benson: American Impressionist. (exh. cat., Peabody Essex Museum). Salem, Massachusetts: Peabody Essex Museum, 2000. Text p. 61; fig. 27, p. 61 (color).

Lévy, Sophie, et al. Twarze Ameryki: Portrety z kolekcji Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940/Faces of America: Portraits from the collection of the Terra Foundation for American Art, 1770–1940. (exh. cat. International Cultural Center). Cracow, Poland: International Cultural Center, 2006. Ill. p. 93 (color).

Bardazzi, Francesca and Carlo Sisi, editors. Americans in Florence: Sargent and the American Impressionists. (exh. cat. Fondazione Plazzo Strozzi). Venice, Italy: Marsilio, 2012. Text, cat. no. 103, p. 241–42, ill. cat. no 103, p. 225 (color).