Painting the Beautiful
Show runs from: September 3 until October 4, 2008
American Impressionist Paintings from the Michener Art Museum Collection includes 25 works by approximately 15 of the Pennsylvania Impressionists, who were associated with a vigorous realism grounded in love of the land and embodying America’s populist, pioneer spirit. In describing Impressionist painting, the words “virile,” “force,” and “veracity” probably don’t come to mind. But these are the very words that were used by early 20th-century critics to describe the work of the Bucks County artists. For example, the bold, vigorous realism of Edward Redfield, generally acknowledged as the stylistic leader of this group, influenced several generations of Impressionist artists to come.