Artistic Excursions

Join us in celebrating the gracious gift of John Henry Twachtman’s painting, Venice, Campo Santa Marta. This outstanding example of the artist’s early work was given to the museum by his grand-niece, Nancy Anderson, who lives in Chattanooga. Long considered one of the leaders of American Impressionism, Twachtman painted this work on a sojourn to Venice with artist friends in the late 1870s, and it offers insight into Twachtman’s role in the development of the movement. During this period, Venice, like Paris, London, and Munich, experienced a boom in American tourists. They sought art as mementoes of their travel and to demonstrate their social status and taste. But rather than depicting popular Venetian tourist spots, Twachtman sought out sites off the beaten path.  And he used the dynamic alla prima painting technique developed by Realist artists, and later adopted by the Impressionists, to spontaneously render an insider’s view of the city. By using this technique of painting quickly to depict a slice of daily life, Twachtman laid the groundwork for American Impressionism.