Edward Francis Rook
1870 - 1960
Birth-PlaceOld Lyme, CT
BiographyRook's long life parallels the florescence and later eclipse of American Impressionism. Unlike many of his contemporaries who courted fame and zealously fostered an appreciation of their art, Rook was disdainful of the art establishment and never allied himself with a commercial gallery or enjoyed a one-man show. The son of a successful New York stockbroker who was a noted art collector, Rook never needed to live off the sale of his paintings.In 1889 Rook began attending classes at the Art Students League, where he most likely was taught by John Twachtman, who was then introducing Impressionist techniques to his students. During the 1890s Rook's studies were periodically interrupted by trips to France, which he continued to make until the turn of the century. In Paris it is likely that he studied at the Académie Julian under Benjamin Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens. Conforming to the French academic tradition, Rook was exposed to a rigorous regimen of drawing, modeling, and color theory. He escaped Paris during the summers and stayed in Le Faouët, a small secluded art colony in Brittany, near Pont-Aven. Rook was influenced both by the Barbizon School and James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and his surviving early work of this period conformed to the soft atmospheric aesthetic of the Tonalists. His subjects ranged from harbor scenes to pastorals with peasants attending sheep and other bucolic subjects.
Rook submitted his paintings to various juried expositions and competitions. "His Pearl Clouds, Moonlight " was awarded the Temple Gold Medal in 1898 at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, a prestigious award that generated widespread publicity about the artist and his budding career. He also received gold medals at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (1901), the Universal Exposition in Saint Louis (1904), the International Fine Arts Exposition in Buenos Aires (1910) and the Panama-Pacific Exposition in Buffalo (1915).
By 1901 Rook's style changed dramatically, perhaps in response to his honeymoon in the Canadian Rockies in 1901 and his move to Mexico in October 1901; he quickly responded to the intense sunlight in both locations. He left Tonalism behind and his paintings became more impressionistic; his brush strokes became broken and his colors acquired greater vibrancy. Rook's future work would conform more to American Impressionism than Tonalism. Unlike their French counterparts of a somewhat earlier generation who were inspired by the quasi-scientific analysis of color and light, the American Impressionists were unfettered by theories and their work was more experimental and individualistic. Rook traveled in circles that included Twachtman, Childe Hassam, and Willard Metcalf, but his paintings are immediately identifiable and quite different from theirs.
On his return from Mexico, Rook traveled various parts of the country looking for a place to settle. He first visited the art colony of Old Lyme in October 1903. The landscape and climate of the region recalled the area around Barbizon. The Old Lyme group of Tonalists welcomed Rook. Coincidentally, Hassam also arrived in Old Lyme in 1903 and was soon joined by Metcalf and Walter Griffin. Hassam eschewed Tonalism and converted many of the painters of the area to his brand of vibrant Impressionism. Rook and his wife stayed first at the Florence Griswold House, the epicenter of activity at the art colony, and later built an imposing home not far from Griswold's boarding house. For many years thereafter Rook painted still lifes and landscapes and submitted them to various exhibitions and competitions, where they were well received.
By the 1920s Rook had become preoccupied with his collection of automobiles and painted rarely. He became increasingly antisocial and withdrew into his private world.
By 1960, when he died, his reputation was all but eclipsed and his once thriving career was forgotten. Over the last twenty years, however, his paintings, particularly those of Bradbury's Mill Dam, have become prized and have been exhibited widely, thus propelling him closer to the first ranks of the Connecticut Impressionists.
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