Skip to main contentProvenanceThe artist
Private collection
Brown & Corbin Fine Art, Lincoln, Massachusetts
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1991
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999
Exhibition HistoryPublished References
Dawson Dawson-Watson
(American, 1864–1939)
Giverny
1888
Oil on canvas
Image: 14 3/4 x 19 1/2 in. (37.5 x 49.5 cm)
Frame: 25 1/4 x 30 in. (64.1 x 76.2 cm)
Frame: 25 1/4 x 30 in. (64.1 x 76.2 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1999.39
SignedLower right: DAWSON WATSON./1888.
InterpretationGiverny is Dawson Dawson-Watson's quiet view up a winding lane in the rural village of Giverny, in Normandy, France. A farm woman, her light-blue dress almost fading into the bleached surfaces of her surroundings, carries baskets up the lane. The way is bordered on the right with a whitewashed wall capped with red clay tiles and lined by low buildings that confine the view on either side as it terminates in the distance with a steep hillside. The tall white building in the center of the composition is the farmhouse called La Ferme de la Cote, not far from the village's mairie, or town hall. The asymmetrical image, with its off-center vanishing point, is dominated by the blank, slab-like expanses of walls and roof and the series of irregular angles they produce. The heavily painted surface evokes the rough textures of the village buildings.
Private collection
Brown & Corbin Fine Art, Lincoln, Massachusetts
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1991
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999
Exhibition History
Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915 (Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 1–November 1, 1992; April 1-October 31, 1993; April 1–October 30, 1994; April 1–October 31, 1995. [exh. cat.]
American Artists and the French Experience, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.
American Artists and the Paris Experience, 1880–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 1997–March 8, 1998.
Giverny au fil des saisons (Giverny in All Seasons), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001.
A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003.
En Plein Air: American Painters in Giverny, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 8–May 25, 2003.
En plein air: personnages dans un paysage (En Plein Air: Figures in a Landscape), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004 (on exhibit partial run: July 5–October 31, 2004).
Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915, Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 1, 2007; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, July 21–October 14, 2007. [exh. cat.]
Impressionist Giverny: The Americans, 1885-1915, Selections from the Terra Foundation for American Art, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Florence Griswold Museum of Art, Old Lyme, Connecticut, May 3–July 27, 2008; Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany, New York, August 23, 2008–January 4, 2009.
Monet and the Artists of Giverny: The Beginning of American Impressionism, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan with the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venues: Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kitakyushu, Japan, October 9–November 28, 2010; The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, December 7, 2010–February 17, 2011; The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan, February 25–April 10, 2011. [exh. cat.]
Into the Light: The Paintings of William Blair Bruce, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (organizer). Venue: Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, May 24–October 5, 2014. [exh. cat.]
American Artists and the French Experience, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.
American Artists and the Paris Experience, 1880–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 1997–March 8, 1998.
Giverny au fil des saisons (Giverny in All Seasons), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001.
A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003.
En Plein Air: American Painters in Giverny, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 8–May 25, 2003.
En plein air: personnages dans un paysage (En Plein Air: Figures in a Landscape), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2004 (on exhibit partial run: July 5–October 31, 2004).
Impressionist Giverny: A Colony of Artists, 1885–1915, Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 1, 2007; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, July 21–October 14, 2007. [exh. cat.]
Impressionist Giverny: The Americans, 1885-1915, Selections from the Terra Foundation for American Art, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Florence Griswold Museum of Art, Old Lyme, Connecticut, May 3–July 27, 2008; Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany, New York, August 23, 2008–January 4, 2009.
Monet and the Artists of Giverny: The Beginning of American Impressionism, The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan with the Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venues: Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kitakyushu, Japan, October 9–November 28, 2010; The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, December 7, 2010–February 17, 2011; The Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan, February 25–April 10, 2011. [exh. cat.]
Into the Light: The Paintings of William Blair Bruce, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (organizer). Venue: Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, May 24–October 5, 2014. [exh. cat.]
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. 57, 169; pl. 24, p. 170 (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. 57, 169; pl. 24, p. 170 (color).
Gomes, Rosalie. Impressions of Giverny: A Painter's Paradise 1883–1914. San Francisco, California: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995. Text pp. 31, 113; pl. 27, p. 42 (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. 205 (checklist); cat. p. 114 (color).
Bourguignon, Katherine M. "Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France" American Art Review 20.3 (June 2008): 100-113. Ill. p.102 (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. Ill cat. no. 53, p. 101 (color).
Bruce, Tobi and Joan Padgett, eds., Into the Light: The Paintings of William Blair Bruce (1859-1906). (exh. cat. Art Gallery of Hamilton) Ontario: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2014. pl.45. p. 106 (color), text p. 117, 245 (checklist).
“Giverny.” Dawson Dawson-Watson Catalogue Raisonné Project. Last modified 2016. Accessed February 26, 2016. http://dawsondawson-watson.org/art/giverny/. Ill. (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. 57, 169; pl. 24, p. 170 (color).
Gomes, Rosalie. Impressions of Giverny: A Painter's Paradise 1883–1914. San Francisco, California: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1995. Text pp. 31, 113; pl. 27, p. 42 (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. 205 (checklist); cat. p. 114 (color).
Bourguignon, Katherine M. "Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France" American Art Review 20.3 (June 2008): 100-113. Ill. p.102 (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. Ill cat. no. 53, p. 101 (color).
Bruce, Tobi and Joan Padgett, eds., Into the Light: The Paintings of William Blair Bruce (1859-1906). (exh. cat. Art Gallery of Hamilton) Ontario: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2014. pl.45. p. 106 (color), text p. 117, 245 (checklist).
“Giverny.” Dawson Dawson-Watson Catalogue Raisonné Project. Last modified 2016. Accessed February 26, 2016. http://dawsondawson-watson.org/art/giverny/. Ill. (color).