In 1992 I was awarded the five-thousand dollar John Steven Jones Art Fellowship, given by Roland and Joyce Jones in honor of their son. I used the fellowship to study, for one semester, at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, CT. That one semester has become one of the most transformative of my fine art career. (Click images to enlarge)
I’m grateful to the great, Richard Schmid, for recommending the school to me. As a side note…it’s good I attended when I did because today, with lodging, the annual cost to attend the school exceeds 40 thousand dollars.
The Florence Griswold Boarding House as it looks today.
Miss Florence Griswold
I mention all this, because in its day, very early 1900s, Old Lyme was noted for its artist’s colony, centered in the boarding house of Miss Florence Griswold. At the time many of America’s most famous artists stayed there. Florence was a single woman with no regular income, but living in the large Griswold family home. She was struggling to keep the place up so converted it to a small school for girls in the 1880s. However, the venture eventually failed. In 1899, artist Henry Ward Ranger, visiting from New York, boarded there. He enjoyed the house and its surroundings so much that he proposed to return the next spring with artists who would help create an American Barbizon there. Florence Griswold quickly agreed.
Henry Ward Ranger (1858-1916)
Henry Ward Ranger – “Sheep Pasture” – 28″ x 36″ – Oil (1900)
“Florence was well suited to the task. She knew French, literature, art, and music, yet had also learned to do demanding house and yard work. While others of her era might look down on artists as bohemian, unreliable, even rowdy, Florence admired their creative talents, enjoyed their diverse personalities, and relished the opportunity to contribute to their success. The early arrivals called themselves the ‘School of Lyme’ and were, under Ranger’s leadership, committed to transforming the poetic realism of French Barbizon painting into an American mode called Tonalism.” (florencegriswoldmuseum.org)
And that brings me to our featured artist…Willard Leroy Metcalf.
Willard Leroy Metcalf (1858-1925)
Childe Hassam (1859-1935)
Childe Hassam – “Spring Morning in the Heart of the City” – 18″ x 20″ – Oil (1899)
When Childe Hassam arrived at the boarding house in 1903, he was followed by his close friend Metcalf in 1905. Hassam’s arrival effected a change at Miss Florence’s house. His distinctly American form of French Impressionism soon dominated Old Lyme. The new avant-garde movement soon took over the house leaving the Tonalists behind and causing Henry Ward Ranger to move on. Metcalf was a frequent visitor, participating in many of its social events and exhibitions.
It was Willard Metcalf’s suggestion to line the walls of the Griswold dining room with painted panels. He got the idea while living in France and staying at the Hotel Baudy (famous for its painted panels). Every conceivable surface of the dining room at the Florence Griswold Boarding House was used to create a painting…doors, walls, windows, ceiling and floor… (well not all, but you get the idea). Some of the paintings were done as payment but also out of gratitude for Miss Griswold.
The dinner table at the Griswold boarding house became a place of stimulating conversation and exchange of ideas. Miss Florence offered great hospitality and loved “her boys.” Artists described their staying there as having all the charm of being a guest but with the freedom of being at home. Artists called her home the “Holy House”…and out of gratitude painted pictures on its doors and dining room walls.
The Florence Griswold house, now a museum, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993, the year I attended the Lyme Academy. It was a museum back then and I visited there many times during my stay in Old Lyme. The paintings on the walls and doors are well worth the visit.
Willard Leroy Metcalf – “May Night” – 39″ x 36″ – Oil (1906) – This is the front of Florence Griswold”s house. Metcalf wanted to give the painting to Florence as payment for his stay at the boarding house. She refused, saying, “I won’t take it, it’s the best thing you’ve ever done. When you show it in New York, they’ll snap it up at once, and everything will be lovely.” (The painting later won the first prize of $1,000 and was the first contemporary painting purchased by The Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.).
Willard Leroy Metcalf’s career can really be divided into two parts…the early period from 1888 through 1903, and the latter period when he was considered the “Painter Laureate of New England Impressionism.” That was from 1904 until his death in 1925. Much of this transformation in his work is credited to his association with the Old Lyme Art Colony and the Florence Griswold boarding house.
Next week, we’ll delve into Metcalf’s life and career.
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John Pototschnik is an Art Renewal Center Living Master. To view his art and bio, please click HERE
