An Appreciation:
​Willard Metcalf

 Willard Metcalf was a well-known American Impressionist at the turn of the 20th century. A member of the Ten American Painters, his specialty was landscape paintings of New England.

The artist was born on July 1, 1858 in Lowell, Massachusetts. His working class family moved to a farm in Maine shortly thereafter but subsequently returned to Massachusetts.

Metcalf's parents encouraged his interest in art. Accordingly, he was apprenticed to a wood engraver. By the age of 17, he was studying with the then-well-known landscape painter George Loring Brown in Boston. Metcalf also took evening drawing classes at the Lowell Institute. Subsequently, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School.

Working as an illustrator, Metcalf was commissioned to travel west to New Mexico and Arizona and live with the Zuni Indians for two years. His illustrations were published in periodicals such as Harper's Weekly. The proceeds from his work as an illustrator and the sales from an exhibition of his work in Boston enabled Metcalf to travel to France in 1883 for further study.

In Paris, Metcalf enrolled at the Academie Julian and exhibited at the Paris Salon. However, he also spent much time traveling in Brittany and Normandy painting and sketching. Metcalf was one of the first Americans to spend time in Giverny where an artist's colony was being tolerated by the town's most famous resident Claude Monet. However, Metcalf did not adopt the Impressionist style at this point in his career.

Returning to the United States in 1888, Metcalf lived briefly in Boston but settled in New York City. He worked as a portraitist and as an illustrator for a time. In addition, he taught at Cooper Union and at the Art Students League of New York. To escape a wild social life that included heavy drinking, Metcalf made a summer sojourn to Glouster, Massachusetts where he began to experiment with Impressionism.

Metcalf was an active member of the New York art community and had formed friendships with other artists including Robert Reid, J. Alden Weir and Childe Hassam. These artists, along with John Twachtman, who Metcalf knew from Paris, were Impressionists and so Metcalf's style evolved in that direction. While Metcalf did not become fully committed to Impressionism until 1905, he joined with them and six other artists to form the Ten American Painters in 1897. This group was dissatisfied with the conservative views of the Society of American Artists and wanted to exhibit their primarily Impressionistic work in a more tolerant atmosphere. The Ten exhibited together each year for more than 20 years.

At the same time, Metcalf was exploring painting murals. While working on a mural along with Reid in 1899, Metcalf met Marguerite Beaufort Hailé, who Metcalf would marry in 1903.

Following Hassam's suggestion, Metcalf visited the artists' colony in Old Lyme, Connecticut in 1803. He found the atmosphere there conducive to his work and returned for several summers both to paint and to teach. His last visit to Old Lyme was in 1907 during which Marguerite ran off with one of the art students.

In 1909, Metcalf began to frequent the artists' colony in Cornish, New Hampshire. Once again, he found the avant garde atmosphere and socializing with like-minded friends stimulating. In addition, the scenery provided subjects for his Impressionistic landscapes. He returned again and again.

By now, Metcalf had become known for his scenes of New England. While Hassam focused on the New England way of life, Metcalf focused on its natural beauty that was distinctly American. In search of subjects, Metcalf traveled all over the New England states, sometimes towing his art supplies through the snow on a sled.

In 1911, Metcalf honeymooned with his second wife Henriette Alice McCrea, in Cornish. The couple would have two children but would divorce in 1920.

Although plagued by depression and heavy drinking, Metcalf continued to paint. Still a respected artist, he also continued to win awards and prizes for his work. Metcalf died in New York City in 1925. His ashes were scattered in Cornish.

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Above: "Indian Summer, Vermont".
Below: "Cornish Hills".

Above: "May Night."

​Below: "On the Suffolk Coast."

Below: "My Wife and Daughter."

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Art appreciation - Willard Metcalf​