Dictionary
The Ten American Painters

The Ten American Painters was an important group of exhibiting artists within the American Impressionist movement. The Ten consisted of Childe Hassam, J. Alden Weir, John Henry Twachtman, Robert Reid, Willard Metcalf, Frank Benson, Edmund Charles Tarbell, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Joseph De Camp and Edward Simmons. Most of the group’s members were part of the second generation of American Impressionists, with the exception of Thomas Wilmer Dewing, Edward Simmons and Robert Reid, who was a mural artist at that time. John Henry Twachtman who led the group, was replaced by William Merritt Chase following his death in 1902.
Like the European Secessionists, the Ten separated themselves from the larger Society of American Painters. They regarded the Society exhibition (which they had previously participated in) as too heterogeneous, over-full, and homogeneous, and so began looking for alternatives. The Ten American Painters wanted to present their work to the public in more harmonious, smaller exhibitions, which they held from 1898. The display and the colours of the walls in their exhibitions created a calm and aesthetically suitable impression. James McNeill Whistler and the Aesthetic movement influenced their harmonious and contemplative presentation of art.
Between 1998 and 1918, the Ten exhibited annually in New York, regularly showing their work in the spaces of the Gallery Durand-Ruel and Montross. They also occasionally exhibited in other cities.