19th-Century Realism & Tonalism

French

Painter of silver mist and trembling leaves. Bridge between classical landscape and Impressionism.

Distinctive silver-green palette. Feathery foliage technique. Morning and twilight light.

Further reading: Corot — Gary Tinterow, Michael Pantazzi, Vincent Pomarède

American

Art for art's sake. Nocturnes, arrangements, symphonies — painting as music. Sued Ruskin and won.

Extremely thin paint, often wiped down. Tonal rather than coloristic. Japanese influence in composition.

Further reading: James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth — Ronald Anderson and Anne Koval

American

Greatest society portraitist of the Gilded Age. Madame X scandal. Bravura brushwork rivaling Velázquez.

Alla prima technique — single session, wet-into-wet. Could model an ear in a single loaded brushstroke.

Further reading: John Singer Sargent — Carter Ratcliff

American

Painter of the Atlantic — crashing waves, fishermen, survival. The most powerful seascapes in American art.

Late marine paintings use a limited palette of deep blue-greens, foam white, and rock grey. Watercolors from the tropics are brilliantly saturated.

Further reading: Winslow Homer: An American Vision — Randall C. Griffin