Ten American Painters and other societies.

Ten American Painters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ten in 1908

The Ten American Painters, generally known as The Ten, resigned from the Society of American Artists in late 1897

 to protest the commercialism of that group's exhibitions, and their circus-like atmosphere. The Society had broken 

away from the National Academy of Design in New York City twenty years earlier, in a progressive movement led by 

Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and Winslow Homer.

The Ten were Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, John Henry Twachtman, Robert Reid, Willard Metcalf, 

Frank Weston Benson, Edmund Charles Tarbell, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Joseph DeCamp, and Edward Simmons. 

Abbott Handerson Thayer and Winslow Homer were asked to join the group when it was formed; 

however, they refused.

 When Twachtman died in 1902, William Merritt Chase joined in his place.

All of The Ten were active in either New York City or Boston. They were generally considered exponents

 of Impressionism and established in their careers. In their charter, they agreed to resign from the Society

 and hold their own annual exhibition, protesting the Society’s perceived emphasis on “too much business and

 too little art.” For its part, the Society claimed it was “liberal” with dissenters,

 but some members felt it should stand for “traditional art” and not vacillate with each passing art movement.

 It was content to let dissenters leave rather than try to appease them.

The Ten held annual exhibitions for twenty years; eventually the group fell apart from deaths

other movements which came to the public’s attention.

The Society of American Artists was an American artists group.
It was formed in 1877 by artists who felt the National Academy of Design did not adequately
 meet their needs, and was too conservative.

The group began meeting in 1874 at the home of Richard Watson Gilder and his wife Helena de Kay Gilder.

 In 1877 they formed the Society, and subsequently held annual art exhibitions.

Some of the first members included sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, whose work had been rejected from 

a National Academy exhibition in 1877; painters Walter Shirlaw, Robert Swain Gifford, Albert Pinkham Ryder, 

John LaFarge, Julian Alden Weir, John Henry Twachtman, and Alexander Helwig Wyant; 

and designer and artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. 

Eventually most of the best-known artists of the day joined the group, and many held dual membership 

with the National Academy.

The cycle of conservative to progressive repeated in 1897 when the Ten American Painters group broke away 

from the Society of American Artists. The Society ultimately merged with the National Academy in 1906.

Notable members of the National Academy Of Design

William Merritt Chase Thomas Eakins

Winslow Homer

Augustus Saint-Gaudens John Singer Sargent Henry Ossawa Tanner Louis Comfort Tiffany

The Tile Club was a group of 31 notable New York painters, sculptors, and architects 

- including Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, J. Alden Weir, 

John Henry Twachtman, Ehilu Vedder, Edwin Austin Abbey, Arthur Burdett Frost, 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens,  and Stanford White - who met together between 1877 and 1887. 

The club formed for purpose of camaraderie, painting on ceramic tiles and traveling 

together on group excursions and sketching trips. 

They banded together to promote, in America, issues and concepts about aesthetics and 

the fine and decorative arts that were prevalent within the British Aesthetic Movement. 

But the club also championed American art in general - and did much to popularize 

plein air painting and the Impressionist style.