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Frank Weston Benson

Summer

Maker

Frank Weston Benson (American, 1862-1951)

Title

Summer

Year

1909

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

oil paint

Supports

Dimensions

91.8 x 113 cm (36 1/8 x 44 1/2 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signature: Signed LL:F.W. Benson, 1909

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Bequest of Isaac C. Bates

Object Number

13.912

Type

Provenance

The Artist, 1910
Isaac C. Bates, Providence

Exhibition History

Following the Light
Impressionist Paintings by Frank Weston Benson
Sep 20, 1991 – Nov 10, 1991
The Ocean
Aug 17, 1990 – Oct 07, 1990

Label copy

Summer shows the artist's daughters and their friends on a hillside near his summer home on North Haven Island in Penobscot Bay, Maine. Elisabeth "Betty" Benson and her friend, Anna Hathaway, are seated at the left, while Eleanor Benson stands shielding her eyes from the sun. Benson's niece, Margaret "Gretchen" Strong, is seated to the right. Benson worked from carefully composed photographs, which still exist in albums at the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts, and repeated several of the figures in Summer in later paintings . He was a member of The Ten, a group of American painters whose work reflects the influence of French Impressionism. While Benson captures the effects of natural sunlight and sea air with bright colors and loose brushwork, his figures remain imposing and sculptural.

Selection VII
American Paintings from the Museum's Collection, ca. 1800-1930
Mar 31, 1977 – May 08, 1977
Days Gone By
Jul 01, 1971 – Sep 26, 1971

Image use

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Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Frank Weston Benson (American, 1862-1951)
Summer, 1909
Oil on canvas
91.8 x 113 cm (36 1/8 x 44 1/2 inches)
Bequest of Isaac C. Bates 13.912

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