Willard Metcalf: Changing Times

"October Morning, Deerfield" by Willard Metcalf

"On 30 April 1913 Willard Metcalf and his family steamed for Europe, stopping in Norway before going on to France and Italy. He did some painting in Norway, but it was relatively undistinguished and somewhat somewhat wooden, as was, with few exceptions, his work in Italy. He was more successful in Paris, where he set up at the same vantage point as his friend Childe Hassam had in 1897 to paint the 'Pont Royal.'

Metcalf returned to America just in time, for in August 1914 war was declared in Europe.

'The old order fell apart in Europe, and art fell apart with it. It didn't show all at once. Some people went on making art; some other people went on looking at it. Museums stayed open, exhibitions were held, magazines came out on time. But something had gone down forever: the unity, the stability, the perfected internationalism of the European art scene before 1914. How could it be otherwise, when Braque, Dérain, Leger and Apollinaire were in the army on one side and Kirchner, March, Macke and Ernst were in the army on the other?'

In New York, the annual exhibitions of The Ten were beginning to suffer, in part from the sense of unease and dissatisfaction caused by the war but also as a result of the Armory Show. The critics were beginning to be increasingly unsympathetic to The Ten, and by 1913, according to a reviewer in 'International Studio,' 'A generation has. . . passed since these ideas were new. . . yet still the members of The Ten are apparently content with their original program. Scant change has marked their production from season to season.'

From 1917 to 1919 Metcalf embarked on a correspondence with Charles Lang Freer in an effort to persuade that genteel and discriminating collector to buy more of his paintings. Freer had bought 'Blossom Time' in 1915, and later selected one of the Cornish subjects, 'The White Pasture.' The linear arabesques and asymmetrical placement of shapes in this painting gave it a very Oriental look, a look quite appropriate to Freer's purposes. He also chose 'October Morning, Deerfield;' and just before the Armistice in 1918, he bought 'White Lilacs,' one of Metcalf's most delicate works and one that he considered the artist's 'masterpiece.' Metcalf felt that he was included in the best and most discriminating collection in the country."

To be continued

(Excerpt from "Sunlight and Shadow: The Life and Art of Willard L. Metcalf" by Elizabeth de Veer and Richard J. Boyle.)