theodore robinson and 1852-1896 and monet and giverny and 1887 and impressionism and childe hassam

A current exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum, running through early May, gives us nearly 60 images of what the exhibit calls the "first" American impressionist painter, Theodore Robinson, who spent large chunks of six years (1887-1892) working witih Claude Monet and refinining his artistic style. Though some might maintain that the honor of America's first impressionist should go to Childe Hassam, let's not quibble about that one. Robinson, a VT native, who had previously studied in France in the 1870s before returning to NY to work in John LaFarge's studio, had mastered the 19th century techniques of classical and academic representation. His trips to Giverny, a rather isolated town of 300, beginning in 1887, invited him to consider a different theory of representation, one in which he would pay more attention to the effects of light on canvas than to accurate depiction of characters. The exhibit skillfully shows the way that Robinson's painting evolved in this period, from focus on technical expertise to a greater attention to light, shadows and the overall "impression" of a scene to the viewer.

Imagining France

Before commenting on one painting in the exhibition, his prize-winning "Winter Landscape" of 1890, it might be helpful to do a mental exercise. What was it like for a young and ambitious American artist, 35 years of age, to be confronted not simply with his near contemporary (Monet was 12 years his senior), but with an entirely new theory about what the nature of painting should be? Granted, Monet's Cathedral series was not to be developed until 1891, the year in which perceptible impressionist influences are seen in Robinson's paintings, but Monet was experimenting with the fractured results when light, rather than the object itself, is considered to be the subject of the painting. How powerfully did such an insight sink into someone like Robinson? Was it greeted with unalloyed approval? Would he have raised an inner objection in his mind, to the effect that 'I have spent my entire life trying to hone my technique in precise representation. Now I am told that this skill is relatively unimportant'? What is it about a person that makes him or her open to or susceptible to a new movement in art or in viewing the world? What leads a person to be open, especially when, there was no assurance at the outset that this "Impressionist" movement would be anything other than a temporary fad that would soon yield to the onslaught of the formalism in which all the artists were trained?

The fact that Robinson was willing to change, to adapt his style to the new realities of painting, was challenging to me. I found myself asking the question of myself--am I open to new theories or claims on how to envision life? Certainly everyone is open to some kind of change, but would I be interested in seeing the fundamental way that I have conceptualized problems be redefined in some way?

A Painting

What makes the exhibit valuable is how Robinson is portrayed as evolving in his thinking and painting, especially from 1890-92. The prize-winning painting "Winter Landscape," from 1889, which won the Webb Prize for the best painting by an artist under 40 (Robinson was born in 1852) presents a view of Robinson on the cusp of some of his changes. In it we see his perspective on some farm houses of Giverny from a perspective above and behind the houses. The naked branches of trees and the white patches of snow form the foreground, and a cluster of dark buildings with snow-covered roofs dominates the background. The sky is a rather insignificant 1/5 or 1/6 of the design, but would soon, under the influence of Monet, take on a larger proportion of Robinson's painting. Careful drawing of branches and roofs characterizes the picture, but one can almost sense a longing for some kind of more "essential" expression by Robinson. Upon studying the painting for a while, I think that the mood of the painting tends to take over from the images themselves. We see ourselves in a bleak space, silent, out-of-the-way, with buildings nestled clsely to the ground suggesting a sort of merging of human activity and the activity of nature. The dark, almost bland, colors draw our attention to the total scene that is before our eyes. In short, we receive an "impression" of the whole rather than a sharply delineated picture of parts of the painting.

Conclusion

Robinson returned to the US to stay in 1892. One would have hoped that Robinson would have had several years to promote this new style and technique learned under the tutelage and encouragement of Monet. Unfortunately for all of us, Robinson died of an acute attack of asthma in 1896, at the age of 44. He leaves us, then, not only a body of work that challenges us to understand how we relate to new and provocative theories, but with a truncated life, a life that is, at best, "partial." Yet the richness he expressed, bequeathed to us all, keeps him living now nearly 110 years after his death.