Sunlit
summers spent along the
rocky coast of Maine
with his family inspired
the acclaimed series of
paintings for which
Frank Weston Benson is
best remembered.
Benson's paintings of
his daughters enjoying
the fleeting days of a
turn of the century
summer holiday provided
the artist the
opportunity to explore
the subtle nuances of
light, a favored subject
of the Impressionist
movement.
Born in Salem,
Massachusetts, Benson
attended the School of
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston from 1880 to
1883. In 1883, the
artist traveled to Paris
with childhood friend
and fellow artist Edmund
C. Tarbell where both
men continued their
studies at the Acad,mie
Julian. Returning to the
United States, Benson
taught at the Portland
School of Art and later
at the Museum School in
Boston with Tarbell.
Benson was
accomplished in a
variety of media
including watercolor,
pastel, aquatint and
engraving and was a
founding member of "The
Ten," a group of ten
well known American
Impressionist painters
from New York and Boston
who exhibited together
for nearly twenty years.
Like his French
counterparts, Benson
frequently painted
outdoors to capture the
dynamic character of
light. In the late 1890s
the artist accepted a
prestigious commission
to work on the
decoration of the
Library of Congress and
completed murals of
Fours Seasons and Three
Graces for the project.
The Impressionist style,
pioneered by Monet in
France, enjoyed
tremendous popularity
with the American public
and as a result, Benson
attained a large measure
of success as an artist
during his lifetime.
