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Summer Breeze
1904oil on canvas
30 1/8 in. x 25 1/8 in. (76.52 cm x 63.82 cm)
Gift of Elizabeth Carpenter Floyd, 1992.1
Edmund Charles Tarbell
American
1862–1938
ON VIEW
(For biographical information on Edmund Tarbell, see entry under Tarbell, Mercie Cutting Flowers (Portrait of a Young Lady), 1998.2 )
During the late 1890s Tarbell commenced a series of impressionistic plein-air canvases notable for their freedom of execution. In the Currier's Summer Breeze and other costume studies of the period, Tarbell pushed the limits of Impressionism, creating some of the boldest paintings of the Boston School. The subject of Summer Breeze is a fashionably dressed young woman seen from about the waist up. Set against a backdrop of puffy clouds and blue sky, she holds the brim of her hat in one hand as vigorous breezes pluck at ribbons, sash, and scarf. Sweeping, almost abstract brushstrokes and a strong sense of bright sunlight lend the painting a feeling of freshness that belies the studied introspection of the figure itself.
Summer Breeze was among the last of Tarbell's plein-air figure studies, for by the time it was painted in 1904, the artist had come to realize that his critics would not accept the advanced Impressionist technique embodied in this and earlier works. Indeed, a similar painting of about 1898, The Blue Veil (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco), was deemed by one reviewer as "not persuasive" and "little more than an experiment."(1) Although Tarbell persisted with his "experiments" for several more years, he eventually returned to the combination of mild Impressionism and academic discipline that characterizes later works such as the Currier's Mercie Cutting Flowers (Portrait of a Young Lady) (q.v.).
While some observers have assumed that the subject of Summer Breeze is a member of Tarbell's family, descendants have identified the young woman as an artist's model. In the years around the turn of the century, Tarbell was well known for his images of female figures, which formed a staple of his exhibition entries. Summer Breeze belongs to this category and was shown a number of times during the artist's lifetime. First appearing in the annual exhibition of the Ten American Painters in 1905, it was later featured in solo shows of Tarbell's work held at the Montross Gallery in New York (1907), the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC (1908); and the Copley Society in Boston (1912). Summer Breeze was also included in a joint exhibition of Tarbell and Frank W. Benson (q.v.), which opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a few months after the former's death in 1938.
Shortly after it was painted, Summer Breeze was purchased by Frank P. Carpenter of Manchester, New Hampshire. The painting remained in his family for decades until it was presented to the Currier Museum of Art by granddaughter Elizabeth Carpenter Floyd in 1992.
VSD
NOTE
1. Unnamed reviewer for The Artist (1899/1900), quoted in Laurene Buckley, Edmund C. Tarbell: Poet of Domesticity (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2001), p. 58.
REFERENCES
Laurene Buckley. Edmund C. Tarbell: Poet of Domesticity. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2001.
Susan Strickler, with contributions by Linda J. Docherty and Erica E. Hirshler. Impressionism Transformed: The Paintings of Edmund C. Tarbell. Ex. cat. Currier Gallery of Art, 2001.
During the late 1890s Tarbell commenced a series of impressionistic plein-air canvases notable for their freedom of execution. In the Currier's Summer Breeze and other costume studies of the period, Tarbell pushed the limits of Impressionism, creating some of the boldest paintings of the Boston School. The subject of Summer Breeze is a fashionably dressed young woman seen from about the waist up. Set against a backdrop of puffy clouds and blue sky, she holds the brim of her hat in one hand as vigorous breezes pluck at ribbons, sash, and scarf. Sweeping, almost abstract brushstrokes and a strong sense of bright sunlight lend the painting a feeling of freshness that belies the studied introspection of the figure itself.
Summer Breeze was among the last of Tarbell's plein-air figure studies, for by the time it was painted in 1904, the artist had come to realize that his critics would not accept the advanced Impressionist technique embodied in this and earlier works. Indeed, a similar painting of about 1898, The Blue Veil (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco), was deemed by one reviewer as "not persuasive" and "little more than an experiment."(1) Although Tarbell persisted with his "experiments" for several more years, he eventually returned to the combination of mild Impressionism and academic discipline that characterizes later works such as the Currier's Mercie Cutting Flowers (Portrait of a Young Lady) (q.v.).
While some observers have assumed that the subject of Summer Breeze is a member of Tarbell's family, descendants have identified the young woman as an artist's model. In the years around the turn of the century, Tarbell was well known for his images of female figures, which formed a staple of his exhibition entries. Summer Breeze belongs to this category and was shown a number of times during the artist's lifetime. First appearing in the annual exhibition of the Ten American Painters in 1905, it was later featured in solo shows of Tarbell's work held at the Montross Gallery in New York (1907), the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC (1908); and the Copley Society in Boston (1912). Summer Breeze was also included in a joint exhibition of Tarbell and Frank W. Benson (q.v.), which opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a few months after the former's death in 1938.
Shortly after it was painted, Summer Breeze was purchased by Frank P. Carpenter of Manchester, New Hampshire. The painting remained in his family for decades until it was presented to the Currier Museum of Art by granddaughter Elizabeth Carpenter Floyd in 1992.
VSD
NOTE
1. Unnamed reviewer for The Artist (1899/1900), quoted in Laurene Buckley, Edmund C. Tarbell: Poet of Domesticity (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2001), p. 58.
REFERENCES
Laurene Buckley. Edmund C. Tarbell: Poet of Domesticity. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2001.
Susan Strickler, with contributions by Linda J. Docherty and Erica E. Hirshler. Impressionism Transformed: The Paintings of Edmund C. Tarbell. Ex. cat. Currier Gallery of Art, 2001.
Exhibition
1907 Montross Gallery, New York, NY, "Exhibtion of Pictures by Edmund C. Tarbell." Feb. 1 - 14. 1908 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, "Exhibition of Paintings by Edmund C. Tarbell." Jan. 8 - 29.
1912 Copley Society, Boston, MA, "Exhibition of Paintings by Edmund C. Tarbell."
1938 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, "Frank W. Benson and Edmund C. Tarbell Exhibition." Nov. 6 - Dec. 15.
1974 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, "American Art Since 1914." June 15 - Sept. 8.
1980 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, "New Hampshire Collects: Paintings and Sculpture." Oct. 19 - Nov. 30.
1990 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, Summer loan. May - Nov.
1992 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, "The Currier of the Future: New and Promised Gifts." Feb. 25 - May 24, cat. no. 34.
1993 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, "American Impressionist Painting." Aug. 31 - Nov. 28.
1995-1997 "American Art from the Currier Gallery of Art." Organized by the Currier Gallery of Art and the American Federation of Arts. Traveled to: Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL, Dec. 3, 1995 - Jan. 28, 1996; Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, Mar. 15 - Apr. 7, 1996; Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, VA, Aug. 10 - Oct. 13, 1996; The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN, Feb. 2 - Mar. 30, 1997; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, Apr. 25 - June 22, 1997; Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, July 18 - Sept. 8, 1997, cat. no. 23.
2000 Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, "Completing the Picture: Hats, Fashion, and Fine Art." Mar. 28 - Sept. 24.
2001-2002 "Impressionism Transformed: The Paintings of Edmund C. Tarbell." Organized by Currier Gallery of Art. Traveled to: Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, Oct. 31, 2001 - Jan. 13, 2002; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE, Feb. 15 - April 28, 2002; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, IL, May 11 - July 21, 2002.
2006-2007 Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, "Masterpieces from the Currier Museum of Art." Sept. 2006 - Oct. 1, 2007.
Provenance
Artist Purchased by Frank P. Carpenter (grandfather of the donor)
Remained in the family
Elizabeth Carpenter Floyd
Gift to Currier Gallery of Art, 1992
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