Roome Family Tree. Descendants of Peter Roome (1738-1778) and Rachel DeGroot (1734-1815) of New York City. Artist: Peter Roome Warner. Printer: Maverick, Stephan and Co., New York. Lithograph courtesy of D. Brenton Simmons.
ALBANY, N.Y. — An overview of the development of American Impressionism from the late 1880s to the early Twentieth Century, “American Impressionists Abroad and at Home: Paintings from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art,” will be displayed at the New York State Museum through June 16.
The exhibition is organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Federation of Arts. Drawn largely from the Metropolitan’s collection, the exhibition of 39 paintings highlights the vibrant interpretations of modern life in Europe and the United States created by American artists who embraced French Impressionism. New York State scenes include several depicting the Hudson Valley, New York City and Niagara Falls.
The Albany presentation of “American Impressionists Abroad and at Home,” to be shown in the state museum’s West Gallery, is the eighth installment of the Fleet Great Art Exhibition and Education Program, which brings art from New York City museums to Albany. The exhibit is the Metropolitan’s third contribution to the series. The Met, however, has a long history of sending great art to Albany, having contributed several exhibitions to the state museum before the Fleet Great Art Series began in February 1999.
“This might be the finest group of paintings the Metropolitan Museum of Art has toured to Albany to date,” said Mark Schaming, the state museum’s director of exhibitions. “The American Impressionist paintings are incredibly vibrant and masterful works and these in particular are some of the best examples of American painting of this genre. We are thrilled to have this collection on view to our visitors.”
“American Impressionists Abroad and at Home” showcases canvases by 28 artists, including two pioneers of American Impressionism who caught the spirit of the new French painting during the 1870s: Mary Cassatt (1844-1926) and John Singer Sargent (1856-1925). In describing the artists, guest curator H. Barbara Weinberg, the Alice Pratt Brown curator of American paintings and sculpture at the Metropolitan, remarks, “While some American painters responded to Impressionism only superficially, the most interesting of them grasped its essence, especially the conviction that their works should encode modern life in modern artistic terms.”
The museum is open daily from 9:30 am to 5 pm (Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. For information, 518-474-5877 or visit www.nysm.nysed.gov.
