The New Frontier at the Louvre : Genre Scenes in Nineteenth Century American Art

George Caleb Bingham, The Jolly Flatboatmen, 1877-1878,
Terra Foundation for American Art
copyright Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago

On January 19 in the Gainsbourough room, the Louvre inaugurated New Frontier II the second part of a series of four exhibits of paintings from the United States before and around the Civil War. This year's installment shows a handful of genre scenes - scenes showing activities from daily life - popularized during the 1830s and 40s at a time when the American identity became increasingly diverse as the country spread out farther west.

Three paintings stand out from this exposition dossier and show three recurrent themes in American genre painting: social commentary for The Old Kentucky Home or Life in the South, by Eastman Johnson, 1870, (High Museum of Art, Atlanta); light, atmosphere subjects with The Jolly Flatboatmen, by George Caleb Bingham (see illustration); and Far West subjects in The Life of a Hunter - a Tight Fix by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, 1856, (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art). But the exhibit also covers the change in painting influences during this time.

Guillaume Faroult, curator of this exhibition, is curator of English, US and Australian paintings at the Louvre. In a telephone conversation last week, he spoke with enthousiasm about New Frontier and the painters selected for the current exhibit. He said that because Johnson and Bingham were among the first American painters to "couper le cordon avec l'Angleterre" (translation: cut the ties - implying the umbilical cord - with England) they were interesting choices. Both painters trained in Dusseldorf and were influenced by 17th century Dutch genre paintings notably the work of Jan Steen. The Louvre did not miss out on the opportunity to show the three painters together for the first time. Visitors to the exhibit can compare the similitude between the gestures and expressions of Bingham's Jolly Flatboatmen, on loan from the Terra Foundation and Steen's Joyeux repas de famille from the Louvre's collection.

German-born Emmanuel Leutze (Washington Crossing the Deleware) was also a member of the Dusseldorf School. The exhibit displays a scene from a series of Leutze's paintings on the story of Christopher Columbus (a recent gift from the American Friends of the Louvre association). This painting makes a final statement about American genre painting in that Leutze's historical subject is executed in the smaller genre painting format.

Monsieur Faroult also explained the roles of three American partners participating in the New Frontier venture: the Chicago based Terra Foundation, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the brand-new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The Terra Foundation promotes American Art throughout the world participating in exhibitions and symposiums. They are very present in Paris with a research center and have also been actively working with the Louvre on several projects since the early 2000s, of which the Lafayette database that gathers information relating to American paintings in European museums. The High Museum of Art has a large collection of American art based in Atlanta. Over a period of three years (2006-2009), they exhibited works from the Louvre in Atlanta.

The Crystal Bridges Museum that opened in 2011, has a collection of lesser known and historical American paintings. These types of art works provide an interesting addition to the exhibits. Their current contribution is the painting by Tait, an action-packed illustration destined to make the observer hold his breath in worried anticipation as he unfolds the elements of the scene: a kneeling hunter pulls back his arm preparing a knife-blow to the abdomen of a snarling, wounded black bear. The bear has managed to wrestle the hunter's rifle away from him and is standing on it. Who will win the battle? Perhaps the hunter's friend, poised to shoot in the background, is aiming at the ferocious beast, but is he looking in the right direction?

The selection of paintings shown in New Frontier II introduces us to a new and intriguing subject. Luckily there are options if you would like to see more. The exhibit catalogue - with an essay by Peter John Brownlee of the Terra Foundation - is available in French in the Louvre bookshop, along with Guillaume Faroult's essay on Thomas Cole from the first installment of New Frontier on landscape paintings (published in English). There is also a series of conferences, mostly on Monday evenings, scheduled in the Louvre auditorium this month.

After that we'll have to wait until 2014 for the next New Frontier installment. Monsieur Faroult indicated the theme will be portraits. For the occasion, Charles Wilson Peale's portrait of George Washington that was given to Louis XVI by the American people as a thank you gift following the American Revolution will be exhibited for the first time since its recent restoration!

- CSL

Paris Notes and the American Clubs would like to thank Guillaume Faroult for his explanations about the exhibit and the Louvre's plans for developing interest in art from the North American continent.

NEW FRONTIER II
through April 22, 2013
at the Louvre
Denon wing, First floor, Room 32 (Salle Gainsborough)

Opening hours:
Wednesday through Monday
9:30 am-5:30 pm
Evening hours on Wednesday and Friday to 9:30 pm

Link to Exhibit page on Louvre website

Link to Terra Foundation website

Link to High Museum of Art website

Link to Crystal Bridges Museum website