" So you see, at first the artists adopted Lyme, then Lyme adopted the artists, and now, today, Lyme and art are synonymous." F. Griswold.





A place just for me is how I felt as I surveyed the outlaying area of the Florence Griswold Museum - The once Home of American Impressionism. Sunny and clear, rolled in a new fall wrapper, the grounds were nearly devoid of other patrons. Located in beautiful Old Lyme, CT, the museum is actually divided into various buildings. The newest (finished in 2002) and largest (10,000 sq. feet) Krieble Gallery is where I spent my afternoon.




Glimmering in the sun with it's metal roof, and throughly modern design, the Krieble Gallery fits in nicely with its Late Georgian cousin - The Griswold House. Other various, smaller structures are closely approximated nearby. The Hartman Center, Side Porch, The Gardens, Riverfront, Marshfield House and Chadwick Studio make up the rest of the museum site.





Pushing past glass and steel doors (x 2) I survey the lobby, and like what I see. Open and inviting, a large convex front desk welcomes strangers and even stranger art lovers from all over. Small, open gift shop nearby, the gallery lobby has all the traits that win customers over.





A unique feature of the Krieble, is the ample amount of doors. I'm not sure this was done in the tradition of providing an open atmosphere, or satisfying fire codes.




After viewing a short, but expansive short on Miss Florence and heroes of American Impressionism, I push through, yes more heavy doors, and enter the first of three main rooms. In keeping with tradition, one of the rooms is painted in Lexington Blue. After surveying and enjoying many works in my almost entirely solitary surroundings, I came to view a painting of somewhat large porportions.





Willard Leroy Metcalf (1858 -1925) American Impressionistic Landscape artist was born in Lowell, MA. At an young age, Metcalf studied with landscapist - George Loring at the school of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It was Metcalf's dream however to try his hand in Europe. To his credit, Metcalf was one of the first Americans to work in Giverny, France and "pick up" on French Impressionism.



Metcalf fasinated with landscapes, changing New England seasons and nocturnal properties, once claimed that his painting of a Maine Church under moonlight as ,"My protest against Bolshevism in art."

The "Captain Lord House Oil (36" x 36") - 1920 - Oil on Canvas, Kennebunkport, Maine.

This painting took me by surprise, the use of light and shade never seemed overwhelming, but welcoming. Film-makers use a term called golden light (x2 a day) to describe ideal natural light. Metcalf's use of golden light further enhances the dramatic. Metcalf sensed the best use of light, and used it well.




I liked the way Metcalf "framed" this particular painting by having the greenery surround the perimeter of the work. The sparse use of blue coupled with heavy shade in the foreground seems to balance out the picture.


Critic William Gerdts named Metcalf as one of the masters of Impressionistic Landscape, although in his last decade of work leaned towards to "formulaic."




"If you build it they will come"

Florence Griswold's motivation was probably more monetary than altruistic in the summer of 1899. Left alone in the world with nothing more than her inherited family home and land, she decided to embark on a way many other women of the time survived..by opening a boardinghouse, to provide "a home away from home."

Fortuitous for Miss Griswold, one of her early borders was Henry Ward Ranger, a New York Artist, who wished to duplicate an art colony based on the French Barbizon method (a gathering of artists in a region of France who shared their compositely art system). Returning the following year, Ranger brought artists who were like minded, such as Willard Metcalf, Matilda Browne and William Chadwick.



Popular at the time, the first artists to grace the house painted in the style of Tonalism (1880-1913) an artistic style, characterized by "subdued and poetic landscapes rich with mood and sentiment." This "colored" atmosphere was further enhanced by the use of dark grays and browns.

"High Thinking and Low Living" C. Hassam.




A Full Year

The year of 1903 ushered in Jack London's, "Call of the Wild, the Wright Brothers first flight and the introduction of Miss Griswold's most famous house-guest, Childe Hassam. Hassam who is most responsible for the American Impressionist Movement - (19th century movement) indicated by short / visible brushstrokes, light colors, open composition, and ordinary subject matter. Influenced by Pierre -Auguste Renoir, Hassam painted in a brigher shade, and help turn the tide to Impressionism. Much like the application Mise en Scene - Impressionism is concerned with the "arrangement of the elements in the work."



Life of a Bohemian

During it's heyday (1900-1915) under Florence's warm heart and Hassam's colorful antics, the artists small colony flourished. Dignitaries such as Woodrow Wilson visited the influential colony, after hearing of its merit. Something he would do with his family several more times.

In 1906, Willard Metcalf paints "May Night," a moonlit view the Griswold House. After offering the piece to "Miss Florence," in liu of payment, she refuses, saying, "It's the best thing you've ever done." To further cement the movement, the artists decide to form the "Lyme Art Association," with much support from the community.

After a fruitful decade with the colony, Florence decides to sell the property to Judge Robert McCurdy Marsh due to failing finances and health with the stipulation that she be allowed to stay in the house. Something she did until her death in 1937.

Her obituary in the New York Times - This generous spirit survives; and not in the Griswold House alone, but as part of no inconsiderable chapter in the history of our native art."

Until then......