Review: American Impressionism at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
By Emma Freer
During the first week of classes, my friend (and Her Campus St Andrews editor), Chrissy, proposed a day trip to Edinburgh. So, two weeks into term, we got out of town and spent Sunday in the city. If this kind of premature wanderlust doesn’t encapsulate the experience of becoming an honours student, I don’t know what does.
While in Edinburgh, we planned to see two exhibits. One of them, American Impressionism: A New Vision, on at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art until the 19th of October, knocked me out.
Like most amateur art historians, I am quick to identify Impressionism as my favorite style of painting. So I was definitely looking forward to the exhibit, even though I wasn’t terribly familiar with the work being shown.
In the week since I saw American Impressionism: A New Vision, I’ve told every other person I’ve met to book it to Edinburgh and go see this exhibit pronto. It was that good. But while reading up on the show for this very article, I encountered some negativity surrounding the exhibit.
Richard Dorment begins his review for The Telegraph: ‘The problem with American Impressionism is that it isn’t French Impressionism.’ (To be honest, he might need to adjust his expectations.) He continues, ‘Although [the American painters whose work is exhibited] put their own stamp on the style, their contribution was no more than cosmetic.’
Had I been duped? I spent the week telling people that this was the best exhibit I’d ever seen. Would they know I had only a superficial interest in art? Was my reaction a fluke? Dorment threw me for a loop, but now I stand by my superlative review. While the work of American Impressionists may pale in comparison to the masterpieces of Monet, Degas, and Morisot, the experience of the American Impressionism exhibit at the Edinburgh gallery was second to none.
Monet’s Water Lillies…pretty, but too recognisable?
Most of the work in the exhibit was new to me, and so I got to experience beautiful Impressionistic canvases anew. No matter how stunning Monet’s water lilies are, expertly hung in the grand rooms of the Musée d’Orsay, they are never able to strike the viewer afresh because they’re so widely known.
But at the American Impressionism exhibit, much of the work is less ubiquitous in our collective art conscious. Let’s face it: that dreamy feeling of discovering a new work of art that you just love is hard to beat.
One of my favourites… Lady Agnew of Lochnaw.
My favourite painting at the National Gallery in Edinburgh – Sargent’s Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (from 1892) – had been moved to the Modern Art gallery as part of this exhibit, so I was bound to like at least that piece. Fortuitously, it was placed in a gallery room adjacent to my new favorite painting: Frank Benson’s portrait of his daughter, Eleanor (from 1901), which is featured on the exhibit’s advertisements. The little plaque beside the canvas explained that critics are keen to envision Benson dipping his brush into a jar of sunshine in order to create such a luminescent and lovely imprint of his child.
Lady Agnew lords over my desk from her perch in the middle of my bulletin board.
This exhibit provided a wide variety of Impressionist paintings, revolving especially around the works of renowned artists Mary Cassatt, James McNeill Whistler, and John Singer Sargent. But I think the best part of the exhibit was the effect of seeing so many pieces in such an un-crowded, well-organized, lovingly curated space.
For all of my excitement upon arriving at the Musée d’Orsay for the first time, I found the museum overwhelmingly packed with tourists and the galleries difficult to navigate, let alone to achieve any zen state of artistic appreciation. On the other hand, many less popular museums have beautiful Impressionist paintings, but lack the scope or cohesion of the American Impressionism exhibit.
It’s been over a week now since I saw this exhibit, and I still find myself daydreaming of its calm atmosphere and beautiful paintings on a regular basis. In fact, I liked the exhibit so much that I splurged on the catalogue in the gift shop. Needless to say, the exhibit provided the perfect escape from the bubble, with all its new third year stresses and sometimes tedious familiarity.
Can’t wait to read through this when the semester is over, i.e. when I’ll have time for reading outside of class.
Though a taste for Impressionism is hardly distinguishing – and despite the fact that a taste for this exhibit in particular might be seen as proof of ignorance of real, ‘French’ impressionism – I’m so glad we paid a visit. And I’ll continue to recommend it to anyone who will listen. Go! It ends October 19, and I can guarantee you’ll be glad to have seen it before these canvases are returned stateside, or wherever their homes may be.