Study the works of three California Impressionist painters: Armin Hansen, E. Charlton Fortune and Edgar Payne. Explore their individual variations and expressions of the Impressionist aesthetic. Each sought their colorful and spectacular “plein air” subject matter throughout California and the West, as well as in picturesque fishing villages of Europe. Each developed a distinctive approach for capturing the effects of sunlit atmosphere, the vibration of rich color and the use of the style’s signature broken brush stroke. As part of the younger “second generation” California Impressionists, their work also bears subtle evidence of influence by newer European Modernist styles. Survey the evolution of each artist’s approach to an individual expression of Impressionism and examine the adaptations that distinguished California Impressionism from French Impressionism, as well as the influence of new Modernist styles on these adventurous artists.
