Known as the “Painter Laureate of New England Impressionism”, Willard Leroy Metcalf’s achievements as an impressionist painter evolved slowly and somewhat tentatively. His working life began in a Boston hardware store but eventually transitioned to an apprenticeship with a wood engraver. In the evenings he took art classes at the Massachusetts Normal Art School. His growth and talent soon became obvious, and that recognition eventually led to a full scholarship at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School of Art. (Click images to enlarge)
Willard Leroy Metcalf
Metcalf’s journey as an artist was not unlike many other artists of his day who wanted to be professional painters; he worked as an illustrator for some years creating illustrations for various magazines. His big break came when he was given an assignment to accompany Smithsonian anthropologist, Frank Cushing, to the Southwest United States where he lived among the Zuni Indians, creating illustrations of their lifestyle for Harpers, Century, and Survey magazines. That two-year assignment provided enough saved money for him to go to Europe, furthering his studies. Like many other American artists of his day, he landed in Paris. He stayed for five years, studying with some of the great instructors at the Academie Julian. Other prominent American artists studying there at the same time included Frank Benson and Edmund Tarbell.
“Old Woman with Child and Goose” – Oil (1884)
“Landscape” – 39″ x 46″ – Oil (1884)
Metcalf was one of the first Americans to discover Giverny, the home of Claude Monet. While many American artists were enamored by Monet and quickly assimilated impressionistic techniques, Metcalf was slow to do so as his artistic tendencies leaned toward portraiture and the work of Naturalist painter, Jules Bastien-Lepage (one of my favorite painters).
Metcalf’s move to becoming a great American Impressionist was slow and gradual…and it didn’t happen in France. Upon his return to the United States in 1888, he did take occasional illustration jobs as needed but attempted to make a living as a portrait artist; that proved unsuccessful. So, it was through the influence of his close friend Childe Hassam that he began to take more notice of the landscape and Impressionism. Their friendship had begun back in Boston as young struggling artists.
“Child in Sunlight” – 25″ x 21″ – Oil (1915)
Prior to Metcalf’s complete adoption of impressionism, around 1903, he was an active member of the New York art community and nurtured close friendships with his colleagues. He was part of a group of friends who were increasingly dissatisfied with the exhibition opportunities for those American painters trained in France and influenced by the impressionist style.
In 1897, nine years after returning to the United States from France, Metcalf became a founding member of The Ten American Painters, a breakaway group of modern painters formed in opposition to the perceived over-commercialization of the Society of American Artists. The Ten comprised some of the greatest names in American art: Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, John Twachtman, Robert Reid, Frank Benson, Edmund Tarbell, Thomas Dewing, Joseph DeCamp, Edward Simmons, Willard Metcalf, and later, William Merritt Chase. They exhibited together annually for 20 years. Those must have been some incredible exhibitions. It was during this time that Metcalf’s paintings were becoming more impressionistic and less naturalistic.
“Gloucester Harbour Sun” – 29″ x 26″ – Oil (1895)
Metcalf’s first experiments in Impressionism began in 1895 when he took a summer trip to Gloucester, Massachusetts with his close friend Childe Hassam. These experiments proved fleeting, and probably frustrating, so he delved into mural painting and other projects. But, as mentioned in my previous blog post, it was in the Spring and Summer of 1903 that Metcalf joined Hassam in Old Lyme, Connecticut at Florence Griswold’s boarding house to live and paint. Old Lyme was sort of an artists’ colony and many artists, whos names are well known to us, gravitated to Florence Griswold’s place.
In 1909, and for the next 11 years, Metcalf spent his winters in and around Cornish, New Hampshire. He joined the art colony there, founded by the incredible sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, but it was the landscape and isolation of the area that so attracted him. One could argue that his winter paintings from this period are some of his greatest works and represent his full artistic maturity.
“The White Veil” – 36″ x 36″ – Oil (1909)
“Cornish Hills” – 60″ x 40″ – Oil (1911)
“Thawing Brook” – 14″ x 17″ – Oil (1921)
He was devoted to plein air painting (painting outdoors). One critic said of his work, “Metcalf connives to translate into paint the freshness and fragrance of fields, gardens and evening air. To his students, Metcalf advised, “Paint what you see and forget your theories.”
“Spring in the Valley” – Oil (1924)
“Closing Autumn” – 36″ x 39″ – Oil (1924)
From all I’ve read, Metcalf must have been a very outgoing person, loving to be around people, and having an active social life. Unfortunately, what became a hard-drinking, alcoholic, fast-living lifestyle, led to two failed marriages and significant personal instability and depression. In an attempt to change, he moved to Maine where his artistic focus switched from figurative works to landscape; Metcalf himself describes this as his “Impressionist Renaissance.” He was able to give up his drinking for a while but sadly returned to it in his later years.
I find the character of a person, the realities and struggles of their life to be of more interest to me than their earthly accomplishments. We can learn much from the lives and struggles of others., much more than from their accomplishments. Wisdom is worth sharing. We can be the absolute greatest at something, achieve great fame, recognition, and wealth, but in the end it all amounts to nothing if we don’t know Christ. “For what will it profit a man if he gain the whole world but forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16: 26-27). Wherever Metcalf is spending eternity, I know without any doubt he would agree with that verse.
Willard Leroy Metcalf died of a heart attack in New York City on March 9, 1925 while eating breakfast in his Manhattan studio. He was a great artist. He created so many wonderful paintings, it’s difficult for me not to love them all.
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