Second Impressions: Revisiting the Paintings of Robert Vonnoh

One of the earliest practitioners of Impressionism in America, Robert Vonnoh was a brilliant colorist, portraitist, and influential teacher; he is also an artist often overlooked. In 2010, Madron Gallery — in partnership with the Butler Institute of American Art, along with the assistance of multiple private collections — organized the retrospective Robert Vonnoh: American Impressionist. The exhibition highlighted Vonnoh’s dual modes of painting, landscape and portraiture, as well as his evolution as an Impressionist painter. 

Ten years later Madron is taking another look at Vonnoh, this time focusing on his American landscapes created in and around the artist colony of Lyme, Connecticut, while also highlighting his French landscapes and the portraits that made him famous. Vonnoh’s canvases explore the calm poetry of rural summers and New England falls with raw, brilliant colors and broad strokes of the pallet knife. Moonlight and dusk are portrayed with the signature muted violets and lavenders of Impressionism, while vibrant pinks, reds, yellows, and oranges capture the beauty of sunlight reflected on foliage in the height of autumn.

Art historian Wendy Greenhouse, PhD discusses Vonnoh’s career and many of the paintings now on display at Madron in the 2010 catalog Robert Vonnoh: American Impressionist now available online from Madron Press and on Amazon.com. Read it to learn more about Vonnoh’s life, career, connection to Chicago, and his full exhibition history. 

Social distancing guidelines and mask requirements are in place at Madron Gallery with in-person viewing appointments available online at www.madrongallery.com. Please call or email for evening or weekend appointments.

Madron Gallery features an extensive inventory that showcases the breadth and depth of art in the United States between 1890 and 1940, as well as a growing inventory of modern and contemporary artists. Through curated exhibitions, publications, and community collaboration, Madron spotlights the work of under-appreciated American artists.

Image credit: Robert Vonnoh (American, 1858-1933), Moonlit Landscape, Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inches, c. 1920