Frank W. Benson: American Impressionist

Though Frank Benson (1862-1951) is less well known than Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt and other American Impressionists, his art remains vibrant and this beautifully illustrated biographical study showcases his finest work. Bedford, the artist's great-granddaughter, sensitively probes her ancestor's Yankee roots in Salem, Mass., his formative Paris years in his early 20s and his daring break from the reigning art establishment along with Hassam, John Twachtman and other members of The Ten in 1898. Benson's evanescent, demure women glimpsed by firelight or outdoors and his radiant landscapes and seacoasts project an idealized way of life, yet his best pictures touch our deepest emotions and longing for a sane world. His later watercolors are remarkable for their bold experimental effects, and ravishing homages to nature like American Egrets (1940) today look like pleas for ecological responsibility. (Aug.)