'Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France' Review: The Other French Connection
At the Denver Art Museum, a show with more than 100 works reveals the inspiration Americans drew from Paris and beyond.

Denver

It is one thing to know, perhaps vaguely, that many American artists ventured to France in the mid-19th through early 20th centuries to study in French academies and ateliers. It's another to recognize the French influence from a display of the drawings and paintings they made there and thereafter. "Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France" at the Denver Art Museum goes a step further: In a theatrical installation, with giant scene-setting photographs, background music, artificial flowers and other props, it attempts to transport visitors to the Paris and French countryside of that era, in hopes of attracting more visitors and making a lasting impression.

Cassatt's "Mother and Child"

Quibbles with some of the razzle-dazzle aside, the exhibition hits its mark. The curator, Timothy J. Standring, has gathered more than 100 artworks created by about 40 artists between 1855 and 1913—including Mary Cassatt's masterpiece "Mother and Child" (1893) from the Wichita Art Museum—that demonstrate how the French connection changed American art. Exposed to new techniques and ideas, these Americans abandoned the grand, idealized landscapes of the then-dominant Hudson River School and adopted broader, modern themes and freer, diverse styles, including Realism and Impressionism.

Like their sojourns, the exhibition begins with their academic training, with representative drawings by the likes of Thomas Eakins, Cecilia Beaux and John Singer Sargent. There's also a startling painting (1857), after Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's " Roger Delivrant Angelique " (1819), featuring a naked maiden chained to a tree, by James Abbott McNeil Whistler —clearly created before his break with the past.

Hassam's "At the Florist"

Just around the corner lies another surprise, a bright orange gallery hung like the Paris Salon, then the world's foremost art exposition. Getting into this annual juried event, which presented thousands of artworks that were seen by tens of thousands of visitors, was every artist's goal. Acceptance provided exposure to influential critics and to patrons, which could make a career.

Here, two large walls showcase 17 paintings in a variety of styles, hung on two levels (the salon hang would have been denser, with pictures hung frame-to-frame and floor-to-ceiling), all by artists accepted into Salons between 1861 and 1897. With its fluid brushwork, Sargent's renowned portrait of his stylish teacher, "Carolus-Duran" (1879), shines, as do Whistler's picturesque "The Coast of Brittany (Alone With the Tide)" (1861) and Childe Hassam's "At the Florist" (1889), a light-filled composition that contrasts an elegant lady in black with her servant girl in white. Three other works are notable because they were, according to the catalog, the first three American paintings to be purchased by the French government: "La place de la Bastille en 1882" (1882) by Frank Myers Boggs ; "Le Retour (The Return of the Prodigal Son)" (1879) by Henry Mosler ; and Walter Gay's reverent "Le Bénédicité (The Blessing)" (1888).

Nourse's "Etude"

Those are not the only names that will be unfamiliar to visitors. Laudably, this exhibition includes estimable—and sometimes great—works by other little-known artists. There's "Étude" (1891), an affectionate double portrait of two French peasant women by Elizabeth Nourse ; a vibrant "Poppies" (1888) by Robert Vonnoh ; and sunlit works like "The Sisters" (1899) by American Impressionist Frank Weston Benson, to name a few.

Amid all this variety, however, the most memorable moments still come from the well-known talents. Whistler, the restless innovator, explores the possibilities of paint in a row of four small experimental seascapes (1896 to c. 1901) on panel, created with pigments thinned by turpentine. Resembling watercolors, these dreamy, muted, atmospheric works contrast starkly with his dark, realistic portrait of " Mother Gérard (La Mère Gérard)" (1858-59) hanging nearby.

Sargent's "Fishing for Oysters at Cancale"

Similarly, four oil studies by Sargent of Bretons on a beach (1877), painted on site, are flanked by his finished "Fishing for Oysters at Cancale" (1878) and still sketchy "Fisherwomen Returning" (c. 1877). This look at Sargent's process makes a visually stunning wall.

Best of all, Mary Cassatt takes center stage in a re-creation of the Paris gallery of visionary art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, who is credited by scholars with creating the modern international art market. By backing artists like Degas, Monet and their contemporaries, using tactics like single-artist exhibitions, and financing art magazines, Durand-Ruel helped change taste, and in 1893 he gave Cassatt her first major solo exhibition in Paris. Here, in what amounts to an exhibition within an exhibition, visitors are treated to 16 paintings and pastels by Cassatt, most dealing with her lifelong theme of motherhood and children.

Recreation of Durand-Ruel Gallery

Each one sparkles. "Child Picking a Fruit" (1893) beautifully exemplifies Cassatt's ability to portray real babies and toddlers, with palpable flesh and natural expressions. So does "Mother and Child" from Wichita, which also epitomizes her forte—capturing the tender, intimate bond between mothers and their children, sensitively but not cloyingly. In the warm, charming "Baby in Dark Blue Suit, Looking Over His Mother's Shoulder" (1883-85), she melds the two figures, using only body language to suggest those tight ties.

As to the quibbles, some installation flourishes—a slideshow of the French countryside, wisteria-bedecked trellises, labels that occasionally include social-justice references completely unrelated to the exhibition—seem superfluous and even distracting. Fortunately, they are minor, because for better and for worse, "Whistler to Cassatt" probably represents the display wave of the future for art museums striving to woo broader audiences.

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Whistler to Cassatt: American Painters in France

Denver Art Museum
Through March 13, 2022