Ten American Painters or The American
Ten or The Ten
- A group of American painters from New York and Boston who exhibited
together from 1898-1919. They had been members of the Society
of American Artists, but resigned from this organization upon
deciding that its exhibitions
were too too large and conservative. Most of the Ten had studied
in Paris in the 1880s and were greatly influenced by French Impressionism.
The Ten were were: Thomas E. Dewing (1851-1938), Edward E. Simmons
(1852-1931), Julien Alden Weir (1852-1919), John Henry Twachtman
(1853-1902), Joseph R. De Camp (1858-1923), Willard L. Metcalf
(1858-1925), Childe Hassam (1859-1935), Frank Benson (1862-1951),
Robert Reid (1862-1929), and Edmund C. Tarbell (1862-1938);
with William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916) taking the place
of Twachtman upon his death. Although their art was not particularly
radical, they were important in the context of modern
art in helping to establish a tradition of setting up exhibiting
organizations independent of official bodies, foreshadowing The Eight and
the Armory Show.
Examples of their work:
William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916),
At the Seaside, c. 1892, oil
on canvas, 20 x 34 inches
(50.8 x 86.4 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. See American
Impressionism.
William Merritt Chase, Near the Beach, Shinnecock, Long Island,
c. 1895, oil on wood
panel, 9 7/8 x 13 7/8 inches, Fine
Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.
William Merritt Chase, A Corner of My Studio, c. 1895, oil
on canvas, 24 1/8 x 36
inches, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. See studio.
William Merritt Chase, Did You Speak to Me?, 1897, oil on canvas, 38 x 43 inches (96.52 x 109.22 cm), Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH.
Thomas Dewing (American, 1851-1934), The Gossip, about 1907, oil
on panel, 12 x 16 3/8 inches, Minneapolis
Institute of Arts. See genre.
John Henry Twachtman (American, 1853-1902),
The White Bridge, about 1895, oil
on canvas, Minneapolis
Institute of Arts.
Childe Hassam (American, 1859-1935), Le Jour de Grand Prix, 1888, oil on canvas, New Britain Museum of Art, CT.
Childe Hassam, Celia Thaxter's Garden, Isles of Shoals, Maine,
1890, oil on canvas,
17 3/4 x 21 1/2 inches (45.1 x 54.6 cm), Metropolitan Museum
of Art, NY.
Childe Hassam, Nocturne, Railway Crossing, Chicago,
1893, watercolor
on paper, 16 x 11 3/4 inches (40.6
x 29.8 cm), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Hassam layered subtly
varied blue washes to evoke pavement,
skyscrapers, streetcars, and horse-drawn carriages and added
highlights to capture
glowing lights and their reflections
on the wet street. See nocturne.
Childe Hassam, Isles of Shoals, 1899, oil
on canvas, Minneapolis
Institute of Arts.
Childe Hassam, The Breakfast Room, Winter Morning, 1911,
oil on canvas,
Worcester Art Museum, MA.
Childe Hassam, Nude, Appledore, Isle of Shoals, 1913,
oil on canvas,
35 5/8 x 25 1/8 inches, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas
City, MO. Appledore, where Hassam summered for decades, is a
small island in the Atlantic's Isles of Shoals, outside Portsmouth,
New Hampshire. See nude.
Childe Hassam, Surf, Isles of Shoals, 1913, oil
on canvas, 28 1/4 x 35
1/4 inches (89.5 x 71. 8 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
F. Childe Hassam, Avenue of the Allies: Brazil, Belgium, 1918, oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 24 1/4 inches (92.1 x 61.6 cm), Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Frank Weston Benson (American, 1862-1951),
Portrait of My Daughters, 1907, oil
on canvas, Worcester Art
Museum, MA.
Frank Weston Benson, Red and Gold, 1915, oil on canvas, 51 x 59 inches (78.74 x 99.06 cm), Butler Institute of American Art, Akron, OH.
Edmund C. Tarbell (American, 1862-1938),
Three Sisters — A Study in June Sunlight, 1890, oil on canvas,
Milwaukee Art Museum, WI.
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