Dear Joan of Art,


Marjorie and Little Edmund I have heard reference to the "Boston School." Who founded it, and which artists were included in it?

Dear Visitor,

Frank W. Benson and Edmund C. Tarbell are credited as the founders of the "Boston School." After studying in Europe, they returned to Boston in 1886 and a few years later they headed the Museum School's painting and drawing departments. Briefly stated, their style "fused Impressionist colour with academic technique to produce dignified portraits and genteel interiors."

Among its many artists, the Boston School included Thomas Allen (1849–1924), Lucy S. Conant (1867–1920), Joseph Rodefer DeCamp (1858–1923), Abbott Fuller Graves (1859–1936), Lilian Westcott Hale (1881–1963), Philip Leslie Hale (1865–1931), Louis Kronberg (1872–1965), and William McGregor Paxton (1869–1941).

To read more about the subject, stop at your local library and track the following titles:

Susan Faxon Olney, ed. Two American Impressionists: Frank W. Benson and Edmund C. Tarbell (Durham: University of New Hampshire, University Art Galleries, 1980).

Patricia Jobe Pierce. Edmund C. Tarbell and the Boston School of Painting, 1889–1980 (Hingham, Mass.: Pierce Galleries, 1980).

Trevor J. Fairbrother, ed. The Bostonians: Painters of an Elegant Age, 1870–1930 (Boston: MFA Publications/Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1986).

Finally, the Smithsonian American Art Museum has works by both founders of the Boston School. Shown here are Marjorie and Little Edmund by Tarbell and Summer by Benson.

I hope this information is helpful.

Joan of Art


Summer Source: Grove Dictionary of Art Online at http://www.groveart.com.

Pictured top: Edmund C. Tarbell, 1862–1938, Marjorie and Little Edmund, 1928, oil, 50 1/4 x 40 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Henry Ward Ranger through the National Academy of Design.

Pictured bottom: Frank W. Benson, 1862–1951, Summer, 1890, oil, 50 1/8 x 40 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly.