Theodore Earl Butler was a leading figure of the American Impressionist movement, and this oil on canvas is a highly important example within his oeuvre. The work represents the artist's lifelong experimentation with atmosphere and color, revealing Butler's impressionist technique that was greatly influenced by his father-in-law Claude Monet. In fact, the present oil, entitled New York Harbor, recalls Monet's famed hazy views from the River Thames in London. Almost certainly painted en plein air, the work embodies the informality and spontaneity of the Impressionist approach, which sought to capture the fleeting atmosphere of a moment in a single composition.
At the time of this work’s creation, Butler had recently returned to New York after spending many years living in France. Abroad, he had enjoyed success painting depictions of the tranquil gardens and countryside, but his return to the U.S. marked a shift in his attention from rural subjects to urban ones. This mirrored a shift among young American artists of the day away from capturing the sublime in nature, to embracing it in the new manmade marvels that surrounded them. Here, Butler combines his depiction of the waterway with the rapidly changing city in the background, placing an emphasis on the changing use of land and sea.
Butler indeed embraces the sublime in this cityscape. The stunning work is filled with brilliant light and vibrant color, as the artist captures a view of the bustling harbor. The vitality of the city is perfectly conveyed through the artist’s suggestive application of paint, resulting in a scene that feels both energetic and spontaneous. His highly dynamic style is firmly within the artistic tradition of the French Impressionists, while also revealing the artist's own distinctive modernity.
Born in Ohio in 1861, Theodore Earl Butler spent most of his life and career living abroad in France. He studied briefly under William Merritt Chase at the Art Student's League in New York before traveling to Paris in the 1880s. Once there, he entered the famed Académie Colarossi and Académie Julian, and won his first honorable mention at the Paris Salon in 1888. This particular painting was exhibited in the second annual exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, an association of avant-garde American artists.
That same year, Butler traveled to Giverny, where he became an intimate friend of Claude Monet. He became so close to the family that he eventually married the famed French Impressionist’s step-daughter, Suzanne Hoschedé. Though relatively unknown early in his career, by the turn of the century, Butler was among the most celebrated American artists working in France. He had several one-man shows in New York City, including a 1900 exhibition at the famed Paul Durand-Ruel gallery. In 1913, he contributed two works to the Armory Show in New York, and became a founding member of the Society of Independent Artists in 1916. Today, the artist's works can be found in important collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Musée des Impressionnismes (Giverny), the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh) and the Birmingham Museum of Art.
