The Quick 10: The Ten

I have to admit, the long weekend has made me a little lazy today. This was my thought process in thinking of my Quick 10 Topic: "Quick 10"¦ Quick 10"¦ 10"¦ Ten. The Ten. A Quick 10 of The Ten. Yes. Brilliant."
The Ten is a group of 10 American Impressionist painters who quit the Society of American Artists in the late 1800s when they felt it had become too commercial. But who were they? I'm happy to oblige"¦

The Quick 10: The Ten

Seated, left to right: Edward Simmons, Willard L. Metcalf, Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, Robert Reid
Standing, left to right: William Merritt Chase, Frank W. Benson, Edmund C. Tarbell, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Joseph Rodefer De Camp

1. Childe Hassam. Hassam's most famous works are the series of 22 flag paintings he started in 1916. They show Fifth Avenue, 57th Street and other streets near Hassam's gallery at the time.

2. J. Alden Weir. Weir was the first president of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors but resigned only a year after being named when the society sponsored the modernist Armory show. His brother was a well-known landscape artist.

3. John Henry Twachtman. Twatchman is famous among art historians for his personal style "“ his interpretation of Impressionism was much more experimental than his contemporaries.

4. Robert Reid. Reid was a mostly "decorative" painter "“ many of his works were of young women sitting in the middle of a field of flowers. He was an instructor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, of which he was also an alumnus.

5. Willard Metcalf. Speaking of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Willard Metcalf was a student there as well. He is thought to have been the first American painter to visit Giverny, the location of Claude Monet's home and garden. He ended up marrying one of the models he used in a mural for a New York courthouse - Marguerite Beaufort Hailé, a stage performer 20 years younger than him. She ended up leaving him for one of his students. In 1923, his work Benediction sold for $13,000 "“ at the time, a record selling price for an American artist who was still alive.

6. Frank Weston Benson. Benson wasn't really considered an Impressionist until after he joined The Ten. Prior to that he had been working on decorative murals for the Library of Congress. Late in his career, Benson became famous for his depictions of his wife and daughters exploring nature at their summer home in Maine. After 1920, however, he started painting a plethora of wildlife. In 1995, a Benson oil painting sold for $4.1 million. More recently, a Benson was donated to Goodwill, which put the work up for auction on its site. It started at $10, but once the piece was verified as an authentic Benson, it ended up selling for $165,002.

7. Edmund Charles Tarbell. Tarbell developed quite the following in Boston "“ in fact, his followers were called the Tarbellites. Like Benson, Tarbell used his wife and children as models in much of his work"¦ except, of course, when he was doing portraits. His portraits included U.S. Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover and can still be found in the White House.

8. Thomas Wilmer Dewing. Look at Dewing's paintings and you'll probably notice a theme: women. Women playing instruments, women writing letters, women standing, women sitting. Lots of women. In fact, some critics call him sexist, saying he painted empty-eyed women lounging around in pretty dresses doing nothing.

9. Joseph DeCamp. Probably one of the lesser-known of The Ten, but with good reason: in 1904, his Boston studio caught on fire and hundreds of his works were destroyed, including pretty much all of his landscapes.

10. Edward Simmons. Simmons was probably best known for his murals. After graduating from Harvard, he went on to win the first commission of the Municipal Art Society. They had him paint a series inside of the Criminal Courthouse in Manhattan. He also did murals for the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, the Library of Congress and the Capital at Saint Paul, Minn.