The selections in An Artist’s Eye: The Lukas Charles Collection don’t read as a manifesto for a particular ideology, but rather as something eclectic, a sampling of individual artists working within academic conventions.
The rewards of Manet/Degas accrue not from revelation but from the juxtaposition of work by two friends and rivals, each cerebral, urbane, and dedicated to—obsessed with—painting life in Paris.
With a half dozen works in the Wadsworth’s collection, it’s possible to construct an informal cultural timeline that touches on the Revolutionary War, the Gilded Age, Modernism, and twentieth-century issues of gender and race.
Venice provided an escape from the pressures of London and Paris, and offered a more relaxed atmosphere for creative experimentation. What unites Sargent’s and Whistler’s Venetian work is an unforced intimacy, particularly in the genre scenes.
Twachtman’s tenure at the League, which correlated exactly to his time in Connecticut, may have helped to sharpen his focus when he stepped off the train in Greenwich.