The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore (Hardcover)

by Dr. Susan G. Larkin (Author) "From 1890 to 1920, the Cos Cob section of Greenwich, Connecticut, was the site of a lively art colony..." (more)
Key Phrases: Holley House, New York, Childe Hassam (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
From the Van Gogh-like strokes of Childe Hassam to Elmer MacRae's near-cubist hollyhocks, The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressions on the Connecticut Shore offers an in-depth look at a lesser-known American movement. Between 1890 and 1920, artists and writers settled in a coastal section of Greenwich called Cos Cob, as the town shifted from fishing and farming to New York bedroom community, often meeting at the Holley family boarding house on the harbor. An independent scholar and former Metropolitan Museum of Art research fellow, Susan G. Larkin (a longtime Greenwich resident) takes readers through a generous sampling of 78 color and 67 b&w reproductions of works that are currently hanging at the National Academy of Design in New York and will travel to Houston and Denver later this year.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Frank W. Benson (1862-1951), who had dreamed of being an ornithological illustrator while studying at the Boston Museum, where he later became a teacher and director, had a full, award-filled career as a portraitist and painter of plein-air canvases. However, at midlife he chose to change direction and combine his life as an artist with his other passions: wildlife and sporting. Bedford, Benson's biographer (Frank W. Benson: An American Impressionist. o.p.) and guest curator of the retrospective of Benson's work that resulted in Frank W. Benson: New England Impressionist (Peabody Essex Museum, 2000), focuses here on this later period of his work. She draws on family memories and photos, diaries, and letters to acquaint us with an artist of international renown, presenting a devoted family man, keen observer, and consummate sportsman. Benson's etching, lithography, watercolor, and oil illuminate his world through images of geese in flight, hunters and dogs, a lone fisherman, and misty lakes and landscapes. Bedford also includes a chronology of the artist. These two lushly illustrated works make good companions, showing the great talent of American impressionists from a similar period and style. Bedford's is recommended for extensive collections of American art; Larkin's unique study is recommended for all collections. Joseph Hewgley, Nashville P.L.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; First Printing edition (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300088523
• ISBN-13: 978-0300088526
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 9.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #805,200 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall, Very Good, October 12, 2005

By	Joseph Reader (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews

This book contains a few truly beautiful paintings, but also some that, in my opinion, are not particularly beautiful or interesting. It gets 4 stars by virtue of the genuine beauty of the few. It's hard to judge just how well any book reproduces works of art, but the quality of these reproductions SEEMS to be fine. And while I applaud publishers who print on acid-free or alkaline paper--as is purportedly the case for this book--the pages of the copy I saw (printed in 2001) are already starting to yellow at the edges.