Impressionist Art Colonies in Cos Cob, Mystic and Old Lyme to be Highlighted in Lecture

Amy Kurtz Lansing, Curator of the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut, will offer an overview of the artist colonies that developed in Old Lyme, Cos Cob and Mystic in a lecture on April 24 at 4:00pm at the Museum of Darien.

The lecture will complement the latest exhibit housed by the museum, State of Inspiration: Connecticut’s Art Colonies, featuring forty works by top Connecticut impressionists and running through the summer of 2022.

Chauncey Ryder (1868-1948) Blue Cold, c. 1905 oil on Panel

The Impressionist movement took hold in the United States during the late 1800s and Connecticut became a magnet for artists looking for inspiration. Artists visiting from New York or Boston set down roots in Old Lyme, Cos Cob, and Mystic to form communities where they could thrive professionally and personally in a changing art world.

One such artist was Frank Vincent Dumond, who painted Old Lyme Gardens (c. 1915), an oil painting on canvas in the exhibit. Described as an “art treasure” by a critic of the day, Dumond arrived in Old Lyme in 1902 and made his home there for the next 49 years while also commuting to the Art Students League in New York. Among his most renowned students were Norman Rockwell, Georgia O’Keeffe and the Modernist John Marin. His color theories continue to influence students today and his particular fondness for the color green, as seen in this work became known as Dumond Green.”

Frank Vincent Dumond (1865-1920) Lyme Rock, 1920, Oil on Canvas

Works at the museum representing Mystic include a major Impressionist landscape by Charles Harold Davis (1856 – 1933) and two pieces by David Walkley (1849 -1934). Works by Cos Cob artists John H. Twachtman (1853-1902), Leonard Ochtman (1854-1934), J. Alden Weir (1852-1919) and Willard Metcalf (1858-1925) are also featured in the exhibit.

To register for Kurtz Lansing’s lecture, Impressionist Artist Colonies in Connecticut: Old Lyme, Cos Cob and Mystic, visit museumofdarien.org or call 203.655.9233. The cost is $15 for members and
$20 for non-members. The Museum of Darien is located at 45 Old King’s Highway in Darien.

Visiting the exhibit, State of Inspiration: Connecticut’s Art Colonies is free of charge, with a suggested donation of $5 per person, during the museum’s operating hours, Tuesday through Thursday from 11am to 4pm.

Established in 1953 as the Darien Historical Society, the Museum of Darien welcomes all ages to celebrate the town’s history and to experience and discover the crafted objects, narratives and
works of art that have shaped the community of Darien. The museum tells Darien’s story, from its earliest beginnings as Middlesex Parish to the prosperous community it is today.

To learn more about supporting the town’s history, visit museumofdarien.org or call (203) 655-9233

Old Lyme Gardens (c. 1915), an oil painting on canvas by Frank Vincent Dumond