With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Elmer MacRae
Painting/Drawing
1875 – 1953
American Impressionism was considered a reaction to complacency in the appreciation of art in America. At the turn of the century there were three major forces influencing art in America. The first was the genteel school of Boston genre painting of Edmund Tarbell and Frank Benson, the second the radical impressionist stream of John Twachtman and Childe Hassam, and the third the academic tradition of William Chase. MacRae, who studied under Twachtman, convinced his teacher in 1900 to move his summer artists’ school from another location in Greenwich to the barn at the Bush-Holley House. MacRae, along with Twachtman and Hassam, attempted to promote public awareness of modern movements in art by preparing a number of important exhibits in New York. The group collaborated with others in the production of the acclaimed Armory Show of 1913.
- Biography/Description of Work
Elmer Livingston MacRae was born in New York City in 1875. He attended the Art Students League and took classes from John Twachtman. In the summer of 1896, MacRae arrived at the Holley Inn for a class in outdoor painting. He fell in love with Constant Holley and moved in to the house in 1899, a year before their marriage. In 1900, Constant Holley and Elmer MacRae were married.
His early work was strongly influenced by the art of Japan both in technique and subject. This was partially due to the general interest in things Japanese at the time, but he was also influenced by a close friendship with fellow student Genjiro Yeto. Two other subjects inspired his paintings, pastels and sketches: Constant, his wife, and Constant and Clarissa, their twins born in 1904.
In 1913, Elmer was one of the primary organizers of the Armory Show, the international exhibition that introduced European modernism to America. After this show, his style changed dramatically. Flowers were simplified and negative spaces activated with strong shapes and bold colors. Beginning around 1915, his art took another direction. This time it was not in subject but rather in medium. With his interest in the Arts and Crafts movement – and the possibility of selling his work to the wealthy people moving to Greenwich – Elmer began working in wood producing chairs, screens, book covers and panels as well as boxes and tables.
- Sources view
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Livingston_MacRae, http://www.hstg.org/el_macrae.php, http://www.hstg.org/mcrae_studio.php, http://www.askart.com/askart/m/elmer_livingston_macrae/elmer_livingston_macrae.aspx, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/elmer-livingston-macrae-papers-9534, http://armoryshow.si.edu/2013/01/elmer-mcrae.html
Gold, Jack A.; Bush-Holley House National Register Nomination No. 88002694, National Park Service, 1988. - Associated Resource(s)