William McGregor Paxton by Ellen W. Lee –
Hardcover, Published by Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1979.
Reader review: Willim M Patxon (1869 – 1941)
who is almost a forgotten artist from the 1800's is still
going stronger than ever today. This book shows you the most
complete subjects and styles of works by Willaim Paxton to
date. Mr. Paxton's acquaintances in the Boston School never
suspected the fine intelligence and delicate sensiblity immediately
beneath the brash exterior of this sharp dressed, round faced,
bald and sporting a black goatee of a man. With full color
images you get a true sense of Paxton the painter and the
consummate artist. This book is a wealth of information and
a complete must for the true Boston School of Artist /Painter
book collectors or the art student wanting to learn more about
the changing times in this artist period and life and how
it effected the rise and fall of his style and genre. Like
every painter who has left his permant mark, William Paxton
was no exception. He invoked a personal mode of self discipline
and expression by studying nature, with one eye and keeping
another on the movement the major artist of his time, and
also the ones he admired such as Velasquez, Vermmeer and Ingres
to name just a few. Along with his wife Elizabeth Okie Paxton
(1880-1972), also taught by William Paxton, they set out to
changed the Boston art scene forever. And through rejection,
criticism and struggle, they succeeded. Collections are all
here from many museums in the world. I highly recomend this
book to anyone seeking to look beyound the paint. For this
is the only known source of material on William Paxton's life,
works and his contributions to life as a major artist of our
generation.
Painting
in Boston 1950-2000 by Rachel Rosenfield Lafo (Corporate
Author), Nicholas Capasso (Editor), Jennifer Uhrhane (Editor) –
Hardcover, 264 pages Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
(September 1, 2002)
Although the history of painting in Boston during the first
half of the twentieth century has been well documented, with
particular attention to the so-called Boston School, the latter
half of the century has been relatively neglected, despite the
remarkable body of work produced during that period. This handsome
volume, created by the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in
conjunction with a major exhibition, addresses that oversight.
The book includes essays by five experts in the field, presenting
and analyzing the work of sixty-seven artists. Rachel Rosenfield
Lafo introduces the reader to the Boston art scene, from the
academic institutions that have nourished the area's painters,
to the galleries where their work has been shown, to the museums,
exhibitions, and critics that have shaped public opinion. Writing
about the Realist tradition that has thrived in Boston for over
three hundred years, John Stomberg focuses on a group of painters
of widely differing styles who have redefined Realism in modern
and contemporary terms.
Nicholas Capasso explores the efflorescence of Figurative Expressionism
in Boston and the later emergence of Neo-Expressionism, which
incorporates greater degrees of humor and introspection, as
well as stylistic variety and experimentation. Carl Belz devotes
his essay to Abstract painting and to three generations of artists
who have forged identities that complement yet remain distinct
from those of their counterparts in New York. Ann Wilson Lloyd
concludes with a discussion of the "New Painting"—work
done since the mid-1980s—drawing important connections
to intellectual trends, current practices in other art media,
and global developments.
What emerges from this volume is a new appreciation of the accomplishments
of Boston-area painters and the art community that has sustained
them. The book also places their work in a local, national,
and international perspective.
Along with a general introduction, the editors have provided
an extensive chronology of important events, an exhibition checklist,
a bibliography, and a brief biographical profile of each artist
whose work is included.
A prominent figure in the Boston School and a member of the Ten
American painters, Frank W. Benson executed a spectacular group
of Impressionist works between 1897 and 1920 during summers spent
on North Haven Island, Maine. Depicting his wife and daughters at
leisure in the outdoors, Benson created vivid sunlit images expressive
of the idyllic pleasures of endless August afternoons on a breezy,
refreshing coastal landscape. This 74-page catalogue includes essays
by Sheila Dugan, William H. Gerdts, and John Wilmerding. In addition
to color illustrations of the twelve works in the show, there are
ten color and twenty-two black and white reproductions.
Twilight
of Painting by R. H. Ives Gammell – Paperback Publisher:
Parnassus Press (June 1990)
Reader review: If you have ever wondered what gave
rise to modern art, and you have ever questioned why standards
of workmanship declined from the excellence of the 18th century
to the shoddiness of the 20th, then this is the book for you.
If you would like to have art history explained by a painter,
in terms of painting, then this is the book for you. If, like
me, you have been searching all your life for some rational
explanation to our "Modern Art", then this is the
book for you.
Gammell was a competent, if not renowned, painter. This book
was written in 1946. By that time, all of the most accomplished
painters of the 19th century had died and no one alive could
create out of imagination the heroic work that had been so prized
since the Renaissance. Gammell explains the real meaning of
impressionism and the unfortunate hostility of the two major
"schools," the impressionist vs the academics. He
explains why the impressionists won and how art degenerated
into the current chaos.
He explains why impressionism has the unfinished look. First
because it seems appropriate for the artists' purposes, but
more importantly, because starting is easy and finishing is
difficult. With the revolt of the impressionists against the
academies, they never finished their academic training, (so
in fact, they didn't know how to finish a painting to the
degree of the prior centuries).
For the non-painter, this books gives you the sanction to look
at modern art and say, it may be art, but it's not finished
enough, interesting, polished, challenging or important enough
for me.
The Boston Painters 1900-1930 by R. H. Ives Gammell,
Elizabeth Hunter (Editor) – Hardcover, 207 pages (July 1986)
Parnassus Imprints
Inside flap: “Who were the Boston Painters, and why
is so little known about them? In the front ranks were Joseph R.
DeCamp (1858-1923), Edmund C. Tarbell (1862-1938), Frank W. Benson
(1862-1951) and William M. Paxton (1869-1941).
Defenders of an older standard of execution—one that demanded
a thorough and comprehensive training—their ideals, attitudes
and objectives were in stark contrast to those of the emerging younger
painters. This new school, whose more socially conscious and less
disciplined works were to dominate the American scene for decades,
ridiculed the Bostonians for their cult of beauty. Condemning them
for their knowledgeable workmanship which a rising generation of
students was being taught to despise as academic, they succeeded
in relegating them into a temporary oblivion from which they are
only now beginning to emerge.
In reexamining the contributions of these Boston based artists-
their genesis, their motivation, and the pictures which they gave
they world—R.H. Ives Gammell does much to hasten this renaissance.”
From artist Kirk Richards: Gammell’s perspective as
one who knew and interacted with these painters adds a unique and
invaluable perspective on these very important artists of America’s
early 20th century. Because of this perspective, The Boston Painters
1900-1930 is an invaluable resource.
Reader review: Dynamite art book; also a great read!
I had thought that Benson was strictly a painter of Victorian
era young ladies in seaside settings. This bio (by a descendent)
fleshes out his various careers as a painter of oils, a teacher,
a watercolorist and whatever is the correct term for one who
creates etchings. Also provides a good overview of the American
art scene (especially "The Ten") during the transition from
the 19th to the 20th century.
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William McGregor Paxton
Edmund C. Tarbell and the Boston School of Painting, 1889-1980
Richard
F. Lack: An American Master
by Stephen Gjertson – Unknown Binding: 144 pages Publisher:
American Society of Classical Realism (2001)
Painting
in Boston 1950-2000
Frank W. Benson the Impressionist Years
Twilight
of Painting
Realism in Revolution: The Art of the Boston School
The Boston Painters 1900-1930
Joseph DeCamp: The Boston Technician
Frank W. Benson: American Impressionist
Dennis Miller Bunker: American Impressionist 
