Press Release - Exhibition of American Impressionism Coming to The Huntington

“The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920”

On view Jan. 23–May 9, 2016
MaryLou and George Boone Gallery

SAN MARINO, Calif.—“The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920” is set to open at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens on Jan. 23, 2016—the only West Coast stop on a five-venue tour. The Huntington will be showcasing a hand-picked selection of 17 paintings from the exhibition that originated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It will be presented in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery through May 9.

Focusing on paintings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, “The Artist’s Garden” explores the connections between the American Impressionist movement and the emergence of gardening as a middle-class leisure pursuit.

“The Huntington is an ideal venue for this exhibition,” said Kevin Salatino, Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Collections. “After all, where else can you so deeply explore the connection between landscape design and painting during the American Impressionist period than here, where renowned botanical gardens—many first planted at the turn of the 20th century—surround the art galleries? We’re delighted to be able to present ‘The Artist’s Garden’ to our audiences.”

The historic gardens at The Huntington, originally the estate of collector and philanthropist Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927), include what’s known as the North Vista, a grand formal garden lined with 18th century Italian limestone sculptures; a 1,400-variety Rose Garden framed by picturesque arbors and trellises; and an elaborate Japanese Garden—all planted during the timeframe covered by the exhibition.

“The Artist’s Garden” is an opportunity for visitors—and scholars—to explore the relationship between the art of painting and garden design. “This exhibition gets behind the undeniable beauty of impressionistic pictures of gardens and asks questions about the social activity of gardening, the scientific hybridization of plants, and even early environmental conservation,” said James Glisson, Bradford and Christine Mishler Assistant Curator of American Art at The Huntington, who is organizing the exhibition’s presentation at The Huntington and who contributed an essay to the catalog.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Impressionist artists who had studied en plein air (outdoors, often in the countryside) in France were bringing home lessons to apply in an American context. Paintings in “The Artist’s Garden” show domesticated landscapes set in the suburbs, or even in the middle of the city, such as The Hovel and the Skyscraper by Childe Hassam (1859-1935), which shows New York’s Central Park. Unlike the notion of Manifest Destiny that pervaded the paintings of American landscape artists such as Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), these are domestic pictures about yards, parks, and gardens, often with urban backdrops—not imposing mountains.