Morven Museum & Garden is pleased to announce its next exhibition:

Coastal Impressions: Painters of the Jersey Shore, 1880-1940

April 26 – September 29, 2013

Opening Reception: April 25th, 5:30-7:30 p.m. A Benefit for Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund. Donations accepted at the door.

This exhibition seeks to examine how the New Jersey shore was home to artist colonies whose output rivaled that of the better-known colonies of Old Lyme and Cos Cob, Connecticut and Bucks County, Pennsylvania.   Borrowing heavily from the collection of Roy Pedersen, the leading collector and historian of these New Jersey artists, the exhibition will feature the works of Edward Boulton, Wyatt Eaton, Albert Reinhart,  Julius Golz, Charles Freeman, John F. Peto, Thomas Anshutz, Hugh Campbell, and Carrie Sanborn – to name a few.  These artists lived in shore communities between 1880 and 1940 where they produced works of considerable achievement.  This exhibition aims to recognize these artists for their contribution to the cultural heritage of New Jersey and more broadly to American Art.  

By exploring the varied and connecting paths of these American artists who were drawn to the light and water of New Jersey, this exhibition will demonstrate the comparatively small size of the American art community in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  Edward Boulton, for example, studied under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy and then became his neighbor in Point Pleasant, New Jersey along the Manasquan River.  Wyatt Eaton, who frequently visited his friend Carrie Sanborn in Point Pleasant Beach, brought with him years of study with James Whistler, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Jean-François Millet.  Eaton’s closest friend, Will Hicok Low, who also studied under Gérôme and spent summers in Barbizon, worked around the Manasquan River and brought others with him – including Robert Louis Stevenson – in 1888.  Collectively these artists showed their work at the most competitive venues including the Paris Salon, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Paris Exposition, the National Academy of Design, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Society of Independent Artists. 

The Phoenix Art Museum, Hunter Museum of American Art, and the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, along with a number of private collectors, are contributing works to this exhibition.

This exhibition is timed to coincide with the publication of Roy Pedersen’s book, Jersey Shore Impressionists:The Fascination of Sun and Shore, 1880-1940 published by Down The Shore Publishing.

Funders for this exhibition include PNC Wealth Management; Rago Arts and Auction Center; Saul Ewing, LLP; Callaway Henderson Sotheby’s International Realty; Pheasant Hill Foundation; Jack Morton Exhibits; Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest; and the New Jersey Historical Commission.