Tarbell's early work, often portraying family members in fancifhl attire, abandoned the sentimental storytelling then in vogue. Absorbing Whistler's art-for-art'ssake approach, he painted works that instead tell stories of design, color, and especially light. He remained fascinated with Impressionism's capturing of transitory effects of weather and light even while turning indoors for his settings, but his mature work took another direction. Combining the more neutral hues of the Tonalist movement with atmospheric settings, Tarbell mastered a style of quiet restraint and a repertoire of women of Boston's leisure class performing household tasks, for which he became known as the "poet of domesticity." His late work combines a new colorism with a figural style that brings his art full circle.

Tarbell's oeuvre also includes still lifes, pure landscapes, and portraits; in fact, he was second only to John Singer Sargent as the most sought-after American portraitist of his day.

EDMUND C. TARBELL (1862-1938) was a leading painter of the late nineteenth century and extremely influential as a teacher and administrator at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School. Trained in Paris, he contributed significantly to American Impressionism, becoming a tbunding member of the Ten American Painters, the foremost practitioners here of that avant-garde style. Influenced by Vermeer, Tarbell later turned to gracious and moody interiors, many including beautiful, stylish women. His special contribution to art in the United States was a marriage of Old Master qualities and American themes.

Tarbell's early work, often portraying family members in fancifhl attire, abandoned the sentimental storytelling then in vogue. Absorbing Whistler's art-for-art'ssake approach, he painted works that instead tell stories of design, color, and especially light. He remained fascinated with Impressionism's capturing of transitory effects of weather and light even while turning indoors for his settings, but his mature work took another direction. Combining the more neutral hues of the Tonalist movement with atmospheric settings, Tarbell mastered a style of quiet restraint and a repertoire of women of Boston's leisure class performing household tasks, for which he became known as the "poet of domesticity." His late work combines a new colorism with a figural style that brings his art full circle.

Tarbell's oeuvre also includes still lifes, pure landscapes, and portraits; in fact, he was second only to John Singer Sargent as the most sought-after American portraitist of his day.

This elegant volume reproduces Tarbell's finest work --some 95 paintings in all--in the context of a biographical text enriched by fascinating quotations from the artist's contemporaries.

PREFACE 

Chapter One: THE EARLY YEARS  

Chapter Two: "VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY"  

COLOR PLATES 1-13 

Chapter Three: "YEARS OF APPLICATION" 

Chapter Four: "LEARNING TO PAINT S UNSHINE " 

Chapter Five: TEN AMERICAN PAINTERS 

COLOR PLATES 14-38 

Chapter Six: FURTHER "WANDERING IN DUSKY LIGHT" 

Chapter Seven: "SECOND MANNER "  

Chapter Eight: FINAL YEARS 

CONCLUSION 

COLOR PLATES 39-50 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

INDEX