American Barbizon school
The American Barbizon School is the group of painters - and the manner - adapted from the French Barbizon School of Millet and Rousseau: simple pastoral scenes painted directly from nature, usually rural landscapes with peasants, farm animals and the soft light of a particular hour. William Morris Hunt was the conduit - he trained with Jean-Francois Millet in France in 1851-53, returned to Boston, and made the Barbizon manner respectable in America. Acceptance came slowly - the approach was generally not taken up until the 1880s - and peaked in the 1890s, through the moody, tonal landscapes of George Inness, William Keith and Alexander Helwig Wyant. Ties to Tonalism and to later American Impressionism are close, but the Barbizon manner stays quieter: nature felt rather than described.
Defining characteristics
- Painted en plein air directly from the motif, often finished in the studio
- Simple pastoral subjects: woodland edges, farms, peasants and livestock
- Tonal, atmospheric light - mist, dusk, softened contours
- Loose but warm handling, favoring mood over topographic detail
- Intimate scale and quiet, contemplative feeling
Key figures
- William Morris Hunt (1824-1879) — Trained with Millet and brought the Barbizon manner to Boston
- George Inness (1825-1894) — America's great Barbizon-tonalist landscape painter
- William Keith (1838-1911) — Scottish-American painter of California's wooded landscapes
- Alexander Helwig Wyant (1836-1892) — Hudson River School painter turned Barbizon tonalist
- Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) — Early African-American member of the circle before settling in Paris
Example works
- The Lackawanna Valley — George Inness (c. 1855)
- Summer Landscape — George Inness (1894)
- Snap the Whip — Winslow Homer (1872)
Sources
- American Barbizon school - Wikipedia encyclopedia