American Artist Willard Metcalf
Massachusetts-born Impressionist Painter and Member of The Ten
© Meg Nola
Known best for his beautiful landscapes and portraits of New England, Metcalf was part of the early 20th century American Impressionist group known as The Ten.
Willard Leroy Metcalf was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on July 1, 1858. His early talents allowed him to receive one of the first scholarships from Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and following his studies he was offered a magazine commission to illustrate articles on the Southwest American Indian Zuni tribe. Metcalf was so fascinated by the Zunis that he then accompanied an expedition led by anthropologist Frank Hamilton Cushing, working on additional portraits and sketches.
Metcalf enjoyed traveling and taking in different sights, and from New Mexico he went to Europe in 1883. He studied painting at Paris’ Académie Julian, then left for the countryside of France, particularly the Giverny area which French Impressionist Claude Monet would depict so well. Metcalf even tutored Monet’s children, though he did not give them art lessons but instead taught them about the study of flowers and birds.
Peaceful Scenes and A Restless Life
Returning to the United States around 1888, Metcalf continued to do illustrations and portraits and won a medal for an entry in the 1893 Columbian Exposition. His personal life, however, was troubled by marital problems and a tendency to drink too much, and in 1904 he left New York and spent a year in the woods of Maine trying to overcome alcoholism and paint in a purer, deeper manner. Following this fresh start, which he would call his “Impressionist Renaissance,” Metcalf focused on painting New England landscapes and became a founding member of a group of American Impressionists known as The Ten.
Metcalf worked closely with The Ten painters Childe Hassam and John Twachtman, spending time at the artists’ colony in Old Lyme, Connecticut and then at another collective in New Hampshire. Never one to avoid the elements, Metcalf enjoyed painting outdoors and he especially loved braving the icy New England winter temperatures. His works are noted for having a strong, almost masculine tone, thereby avoiding the overly pastoral look of certain other landscape portraits. Metcalf has also been described as the visual counterpart to fellow New Englander and poet Robert Frost.
Metcalf’s paintings are wonderfully imaged and show fine effects with light—both sun and moon—offering a tranquility that wasn’t always mirrored in Metcalf’s world beyond the easel. Though he had experienced his 1904 artistic renaissance, he tended to relapse and find himself in trouble with women and alcohol fairly often. Metcalf was also curiously intrigued by spiritualism and the occult, and his continued restlessness and desire to travel kept him from happily settling down.
Legacy
Willard Metcalf died in 1925, still contemplating the “endless effort of putting paint on a canvas with a miserable little brush—and endeavoring to make it express thoughts and dreams.…” The largest collection of Metcalf’s work can be seen at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Florence Griswold owned the boarding house where Metcalf and his fellow painters lived, and the home of “Miss Florence” would become one of the premier American Impressionist museums. Metcalf’s works can also be found at many other American museums, including The National Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian, and New York’s Metropolitan.
Sources
- May Night, Willard Metcalf at The Old Lyme: Florence Griswold Museum
- Willard Metcalf: Smithsonian Museum, Ask SAAM
- November Mosaic, Willard Metcalf: New Britain Museum of American Art
- Midsummer Twilight, Willard Metcalf: National Gallery of Art
