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Lot Essay
One of the most notable examples of Hugh Henry Breckenridge’s Impressionist style, The Open Garden likely depicts the artist’s garden in Fort Washington, in the Philadelphia suburbs. Nicknamed “Phloxdale” due to the immense number of flowers on the grounds, the garden was the subject of numerous works by the artist during this period, including White Phlox (1906, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago). Phloxdale notably served as the venue for Breckenridge’s Darby Summer School of Painting, which helped to foster Impressionist landscape painting in the Pennsylvania area during the early twentieth century.
Born in Leesburg, Virginia, Breckenridge was a fixture in the Philadelphia art world beginning in the 1890s until his death in 1937. In the fall of 1887, he enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy, and in 1892 was awarded a scholarship to study in Paris for a year. Greatly inspired by the artwork of his contemporaries in France, he declared, “I must have been born an Impressionist” (quoted in G.L. Carr, op. cit 1978, p. 95). Indeed, after this trip critics noted his “wonderful advances,” describing his output as “freer, stronger in color, and showing decided tendencies towards what is known as ‘Impressionism’” (quoted in ibid., p. 94). Following his return, Breckenridge became an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he would remain for over forty years, eventually becoming Dean of Instruction in 1934.
Glimmering with a verdant palette and quick brushstrokes of bright colors, The Open Garden epitomizes Breckenridge’s absorption of the French Impressionist technique while abroad. In the composition, the artist employs a technique he termed “tapestry painting,” in which he interlocks colors and quick brushstrokes to balance representation, pattern and form. As exemplified by this work, Gerald L. Carr writes, “The premier pictures of Breckenridge’s impressionist period, that is the cream of those accessible to us today, are glittering essays of broken color (he spoke of the importance of color ‘resonance’) and palpable atmosphere. Often they are reminiscent of Monet on the one hand…with dashes of Neo-Impressionism and even (from time to time) Neo-Impressionism filtered through an Art Noveau style…Surely The Open Garden…may rank today with the best of American Impressionism” (ibid., pp. 95-96).
The Open Garden was exhibited at numerous prominent venues across the United States throughout the artist’s lifetime. Notable venues include The Art Institute of Chicago, Cincinnati Museum of Art and the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition where he received a Gold Medal for his submissions.
Born in Leesburg, Virginia, Breckenridge was a fixture in the Philadelphia art world beginning in the 1890s until his death in 1937. In the fall of 1887, he enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy, and in 1892 was awarded a scholarship to study in Paris for a year. Greatly inspired by the artwork of his contemporaries in France, he declared, “I must have been born an Impressionist” (quoted in G.L. Carr, op. cit 1978, p. 95). Indeed, after this trip critics noted his “wonderful advances,” describing his output as “freer, stronger in color, and showing decided tendencies towards what is known as ‘Impressionism’” (quoted in ibid., p. 94). Following his return, Breckenridge became an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he would remain for over forty years, eventually becoming Dean of Instruction in 1934.
Glimmering with a verdant palette and quick brushstrokes of bright colors, The Open Garden epitomizes Breckenridge’s absorption of the French Impressionist technique while abroad. In the composition, the artist employs a technique he termed “tapestry painting,” in which he interlocks colors and quick brushstrokes to balance representation, pattern and form. As exemplified by this work, Gerald L. Carr writes, “The premier pictures of Breckenridge’s impressionist period, that is the cream of those accessible to us today, are glittering essays of broken color (he spoke of the importance of color ‘resonance’) and palpable atmosphere. Often they are reminiscent of Monet on the one hand…with dashes of Neo-Impressionism and even (from time to time) Neo-Impressionism filtered through an Art Noveau style…Surely The Open Garden…may rank today with the best of American Impressionism” (ibid., pp. 95-96).
The Open Garden was exhibited at numerous prominent venues across the United States throughout the artist’s lifetime. Notable venues include The Art Institute of Chicago, Cincinnati Museum of Art and the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition where he received a Gold Medal for his submissions.