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 William Chadwick (1879 - 1962) In the Hills, Lyme, circa 1920 |
William Chadwick was one of the early members of the Old Lyme Art Colony who, under the influence of Childe Hassam, established the town as the epicenter of American Impressionism. Born in England, Chadwick moved with his parents to Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1882. After graduating from high school, he relocated to New York City and enrolled in the Art Students League, studying with John Henry Twachtman (1853-1902), George Bridgman (1865-1943), and Joseph DeCamp (1858-1923). In 1901, he traveled to Europe, and spent a significant amount of time studying architecture and visiting museums in Rome. The following year, Chadwick made his first visit to Old Lyme. For the rest of the artist’s career, he frequently revisited the picturesque town and eventually purchased a home there in 1915. In the Hills, Lyme presents harmonious degrees of warm and cool colors and broken brushstrokes to create a light-filled autumn scene. A conspicuous dichotomy is present in Chadwick’s brushwork: subtler handling and particular precision is visible in the delineation of the rolling landscape and the slender trees, while vigorous brushstrokes are used to define the leaves and brush. His choice of palette evokes the mood of one season transitioning into another. These details reflect the artist’s superb ability to “capture impressions of the seasonal textures of the New England countryside and nature’s atmospheric nuances” (1). Chadwick was one of the last American Impressionists, and resolutely utilized the tenets of the style well into the twentieth century despite the great artistic flux of the times. He remained in Old Lyme until his death in 1962. Provenance: From a private collection to the gallery. Bibliography: 1. Jeffrey W. Anderson, Introduction to William Chadwick (1879-1962): An American Impressionist, by Richard H. Love (Chicago: R. H. Love Galleries, 1978), ix. |
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