An Introduction to Impressionism

Ernest Lawson Untitled c. 1900

What is Impressionism? Impressionism is an art movement that began in France in the late 1800s. It is also the art style most associated with the Cos Cob art colony. Impressionism is a style of painting in which artists painted an image that expressed their “impression” of something instead of what they saw in real … Read more

From the Archives: Letters from Childe Hassam

Childe Hasssam portrait

The Greenwich Historical Society’s exhibition Lost Landscape Revealed: Childe Hassam and The Red Mill, Cos Cob (January 16-March 28, 2021) focuses on the Cos Cob Lower Landing during the period of the Cos Cob art colony. The exhibition uses numerous items from the Historical Society’s archival and museum collections to bring this period to life, … Read more

Hassam in Cos Cob

Hassam The Goldfish Window

Childe Hassam’s first trip to Greenwich, Connecticut probably took place in 1894 when he paid a visit to his friend, artist John Henry Twachtman, who purchased a house in the town in 1890. Through Twachtman, Hassam came to know the Holley family, and beginning in 1896 he made nearly annual trips to stay in their … Read more

Painting the Shipyard

In January 2021 the Greenwich Historical Society will show publicly for the first time a newly acquired painting by American Impressionist painter Childe Hassam, which will appear at the center of an intimate focus exhibit titled Lost Landscape Revealed: Childe Hassam and The Red Mill, Cos Cob (on view January 16-March 28, 2021. The Red … Read more

Twachtman’s Tiger Lilies

Twachtman Tiger Lilies (detail)

The following essay is the second to appear here in anticipation of John Henry Twachtman Online, the comprehensive record of Twachtman’s art by Lisa N. Peters, Ph.D., to be published on the website of the Greenwich Historical Society in 2021. Drawn from the online catalogue, the essay addresses Tiger Lilies, a painting Twachtman created during … Read more

Twachtman’s Old Holley House, Cos Cob

Old Holley House, Cos Cob by John H. Twachtman

In early 2020 the Greenwich Historical Society received a generous grant from the Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts in support of John Henry Twachtman Online. This resource, which has also received support from the Lunder Foundation and the Cross Family Charitable Fund, will soon be available on greenwichhistory.org. Twachtman Online … Read more