Cos Cob art colony

The Cos Cob art colony was a group of artists, many of them American Impressionists, who gathered each summer in and around Cos Cob, a harbor district of Greenwich, Connecticut, from about 1890 to about 1920. The colony formed around John Henry Twachtman, who settled in Greenwich in 1889 and drew friends including Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, and Theodore Robinson to the rambling Holley House overlooking the harbor. Twachtman and Weir ran summer classes, often for Art Students League students, and the painters made a specialty of the area's colonial clapboard architecture - Hassam jokingly called them 'the Cos Cob Clapboard School of Art.' The colony also drew writers such as Willa Cather and Lincoln Steffens, organized its own Greenwich Society of Artists in 1911, and helped launch the Armory Show of 1913.

Defining characteristics

• Impressionist broken brushwork applied to New England light and seasons
• Vernacular colonial architecture - clapboard houses, saltboxes, harbors - as signature subject
• Small, informal panels painted on summer excursions
• Muted, atmospheric color: snow, gray water, hazy summer air
• Intimate views of gardens, bridges, and harbors rather than grand scenery

Key figures

• John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902) — Impressionist who settled in Greenwich and anchored the colony
• J. Alden Weir (1852-1919) — Co-teacher of the Cos Cob summer classes
• Childe Hassam (1859-1935) — Leading American Impressionist and the colony's wit
• Theodore Robinson (1852-1896) — Impressionist visitor who linked the group to Monet's methods at Giverny

Example works

• Old Holley House, Cos Cob — John Henry Twachtman (c. 1890-1900)

Sources

• Cos Cob art colony - Wikipedia encyclopedia

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