by Christine Finch Olyenick
I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Bruce Museum to
view the “Electric Paris” exhibit, a wonderful celebration of the “City of
Light”. It is certainly a must-see for anyone with an admiration for Paris.
My favorite: L’Ambitieuse
Oil on Canvas L’Ambitieuse
(The Political Woman, 1883-1885), by James Tissot.
On Saturday, May 14, the Bruce Museum opened “Electric
Paris,” an exhibition that brings together about 50 works by notable artists
from the late 17th and 18th centuries as they reacted to the initial adventure
into gas and oil lamps and electric illumination and the effects of light on
impressionism.
Paris had been known as the City of Light long before the
widespread use of gaslight and electricity.
The name arose during the Enlightenment, when philosophers made Paris a
center of ideas and of metaphorical illumination. By the mid-nineteenth century, the epithet
became associated with the city’s adoption of artificial lighting: in the 1840s
and 1850s, gas lamps were first installed, while electric versions began to
proliferate by the end of the 1870s.
Even as rivals, including Berlin, London, New York, and Chicago,
increased the quantity of light in their rapidly electrified cities, Paris
managed to maintain its reputation because of the beauty of its
illuminations. Light remained and
remains to this day a key signature of the French capital.
Jean-Louis Forain (French, 1852-1931)
Dancer in Her Dressing Room, c. 1890
The show is curated by Margarita Karasoulis. (The Bruce
explained that the show is an expanded version of an exhibition first organized
by the Clark Art Institute of Williamstown, Mass., in 2013. That show was
curated by S. Hollis Clayson, who is a Bruce exhibition adviser.) It runs
through Labor Day weekend.
“This is the type of exhibition that will appeal to a broad
range of visitors, including anyone who has a fondness for Paris,” as well as
those who are drawn to Impressionists from both sides of the Atlantic,
Karasoulis said in a recent chat. “Plus, it’s beautiful and elegant ... a ‘must-see’
for art-lovers.”
Alfred
Maurer (American, 1868-1932) Nocturne, Paris, n.d.
Oil on
board, 10 1/4 x 13 3/4 in.
Presented in four sections — “Nocturnes,” “Lamplit
Interiors,” “Street Light” and “In and Out of the Spotlight” — the exhibit is
the first of its kind to examine how artificial illumination influenced artists
in the late-19th and early 20th centuries, as Paris was transforming itself
into a modern city, she added.
Artists in the show are among some of the most well known
American and French painters of the time working in oil paintings, drawings,
prints and photographs: Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard
Vuillard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jean Béraud, James Tissot, Charles
Marville, Childe Hassam, Charles Courtney Curran, Alfred Maurer and Maurice
Prendergast. Works are on loan from numerous sources, including museums,
galleries and foundations throughout the United States.
John Singer
Sargent (American, 1856-1925) In the Luxembourg Gardens, 1879
More Information: Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive, Greenwich.
Saturday, May 14, through Sunday, Sept. 4. Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. $7, $6 students (5-22 with identification) and seniors (65 and older),
free for children 4 and younger. Free admission on Tuesdays. 203-869-0376,
brucemuseum.org
This exhibition is supported by the Florence Gould
Foundation, Amica Insurance, Bank of America, U.S. Trust, Merrill Lynch, the
Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund, and a Committee of Honor.
_____
Christine has lived in lower Fairfield county most her life
and is passionate about Connecticut and enjoys the unique amenities the gold
coast has to offer. Her extensive knowledge of the towns in the lower part of
the county offers her clients a well-seasoned, professionally sound opinion and
expertise that can't be matched. To reach her, please e-mail
Christine@ChiltonAndChadwick.com
or call 203.912.9712.
