PHILADELPHIA, PA.- The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts presents The Artist's Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920. On view February 13 – May 24, 2015, the exhibition illuminates the intertwining stories of Impressionism, Philadelphia’s role in the national garden movement, and the growing popularity of gardening among middle-class Americans during the Progressive era.

Philadelphia boasts a distinguished gardening history dating back to William Penn’s 17th century vision of the city as a wholesome “green country town.” It is in the City of Brotherly Love that the Colonial Revival Garden movement originated with the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, and where, in 1913, the Garden Club of America was founded.

Curated by Anna Marley, Curator of Historical American Art, the exhibition brings together a stunning collection of paintings, autochromes, stained glass, works on paper, rare books, and garden sculpture drawn from the collections of art museums, botanical gardens, libraries, and private collections. Many of the artists featured in the exhibition taught, studied, or exhibition at PAFA, and were involved in the horticultural arts. Among them are Hugh Henry Breckinridge, Cecilia Beaux, William Merritt Chase, Charles C. Curran, Maria Oakey Dewing, Frederick Carl Frieseke, Daniel Garber, Philip Leslie Hale, Childe Hassam, Violet Oakley, Jane Peterson, Jessie Wilcox Smith, John H. Twachtman, Robert W. Vonnoh, and J. Alden Weir.

“Impressionist paintings resonate so strongly because they are the veiled icons of the creation of the middle class in both Europe and the U.S.,” says Harry Philbrick, the Enda S. Tuttleman Director of the Museum. “The newly-designed idyll was brought to life by the layout and construction of railways, trams, and parkways connecting the hustle and bustle of the city, and its economic engines, with a newly defined, synthetic creation—the suburb.”

“The Artist’s Garden explores various aspects of what one might call the horticultural impulse in American impressionist art – from the gardens of artists, and the magazines that celebrated and influenced them, to the emergence of the modern American conservation movement, and the field of landscape architecture – the exhibition considers gardens urban and suburban, real and ideal,” says Marley.

Two bronze garden sculptures, Girl with Fish (1914) by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth and Water Lilies Fountain (1913) by Bessie Potter Vonnoh installed in a garden-like setting welcome visitors into the exhibition through the rotunda of PAFA’s Historic Landmark Building. These elements introduce visitors to a turn-of-the-century aesthetic that links the world of fine art with the world of the garden. Here and throughout the exhibition, the design is inspired by late-19th century archival photos of PAFA’s galleries, contemporary to the period of art included in The Artist’s Garden.

From the rotunda, visitors can enter the exhibition through two gallery entrances, hung with banners that set the stage for the period installation inside. The galleries are organized into five themes with significant crossover between sections, encouraging visitors to engage in conversations across themes and galleries. Themes include: American Artists/European Gardens; The Lady in the Garden; The Artist’s Garden; The Urban Garden; and The Garden in Winter/Garden at Rest.

PAFA is collaborating with a diverse group of organizations, including the Barnes Foundation, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, Stenton, and Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, to borrow and exhibit related objects and to partner on programming.

The exhibition will make a national tour to four additional venues:

⦁ Chrysler Museum of Art: June 16 – September 6, 2015

⦁ Reynolda House Museum of American Art: October 1, 2015 – January 3, 2016

⦁ The Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens: January 23 – May 9, 2016

⦁ Florence Griswold Museum: June 3 – September 18, 2016

A fully illustrated catalogue, awarded a David R. Coffin grant from the Foundation for Landscape Studies and published in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania Press, accompanies the exhibition. In addition to an introduction and essay by Anna Marley, the publication features essays by Alan C. Braddock, James Glisson, Erin Leary, Katie A. Pfohl, Judith B. Tankard, and Virginia Grace Tuttle, along with a foreword by John Dixon Hunt.

Leading support for the exhibition comes from the Mr. & Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, Inc and the Richard C. von Hess Foundation. The Major Exhibition Sponsors are Bill and Laura Buck, and Christie’s. Additional support from Bowman Properties, Ltd., Edward and Wendy Harvey, Mr. and Mrs. Washburn S. Oberwager, Pennsylvania Trust, Martin Stogniew, in memory of Judy Stogniew, a lover of art and gardening, Ken Woodcock, and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art. 

ALSO ON VIEW:
Robert Taplin: Punch
February 13 – May 25, 2015
For the second installment of PAFA’s Sculpture Plinth Exhibition Program, artist Robert Taplin has created the specially commissioned work The Young Punch Juggling, a 16-foot fiberglass and steel sculpture to be installed on the front façade of PAFA’s Historic Landmark Building. The Young Punch Juggling is the latest piece in Taplin’s series of contemporary takes on the historical Punch figure, placing the iconic Italian trickster in a variety of compromising or precarious positions in present-day settings. The plinth sculpture will be accompanied by an installation of Taplin’s work in the galleries of the Historic Landmark Building, including two large-scale sculptures, Punch Makes a Public Confession and Punch is Homeless, as well as a selection of small-scale maquettes.

Robert Taplin is a sculptor based in New Haven, Connecticut, who has executed public commissions for the New York MTA Arts in Transit and the state of Connecticut Percent for Art Program.  Taplin has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.  His work has been exhibited nationally in venues such as MASS MoCA, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.
 
"We are delighted to have Robert Taplin as the second artist to create a new sculpture for our ongoing series of installations on the front facade of our Historic Landmark Building,” says Harry Philbrick, Director of the Museum. “Taplin's gently humorous work uses the traditional figure of Punch to explore social and sexual norms, and create a dynamic presence on Broad Street."

The Sculpture Plinth Exhibition Program, initiated in 2013 with the work BORN TO BEND by KAWS, embraces PAFA's mission to engage the full spectrum of American art — including art made now — in a visceral and highly-visual way. The program presents an annual series of attention-catching art on the plinth of PAFA’s Historic Landmark Building.