Ever since the Chihuly show at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) which, in a dream world would have remained there forever, their annual art in nature installations have been something to look forward to. Impressionism American Gardens is charming, fresh, and feels light during the heavy humid days of summer.
In Hyperallergic Allison Meier writes, “As artists like Georges Seurat and Claude Monet were capturing the refinement of European gardens in quick brushstrokes, so did American Impressionists like Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase turn to the cultivated landscapes around them for inspiration. Impressionism: American Gardens on Canvas is a dual exhibition, with around 20 paintings in a gallery, and a physical garden inspired by these late 1800s botanical muses.”
Out-of-season flowers are currently blooming, especially for this showcase, thanks to skillful gardeners and botanists. Meier continues, “You will not find any Monet waterlilies floating in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory for American Gardens on Canvas, as it’s very much an exploration of the Northeastern “grandmother garden” which crawled around the cottages in Maine, New York, and Connecticut favored for 19th-century artist retreats. The American Impressionists were painting, and often cultivating, a distinct style of garden that was brimming with flowers in all colors, where blooms would appear no matter the season between the picket fences and wooden beds.”
The show runs in the Bronx until September 11, 2016
Check out this cool Impressify App: You can download your own image and create an Impressionist-style gif.
Also, if you sign up for an IdNYC card you get free membership to the NYBG, and many other cultural institutions, for one year.
Art History Courses at CALA this Fall
We have just added a second section of Emily Folpe’s Impressionism & Post-Impressionism: Monet to Van Gogh
Muslim India: Art & Architecture
Thanks for the post. I also very impress with American garden