Brighten Your Winter at This Fairfield University Art Museum Exhibition

above: John Francis Murphy, Sleepy Hollow, 1885, oil on canvas

Dawn & Dusk: Tonalism in Connecticut

t’s the perfect time of year for a museum outing, and this one is right up the road in Fairfield. From January 17 to April 12, seventy paintings from the Tonalist movement, created by twenty-two different artists between 1878 and 1917, will be on display at Fairfield University Art Museum’s Bellarmine Hall Galleries.

“We’re excited to be presenting this beautiful landscape painting exhibition in the depths of the winter,” says Museum Director Carey Weber. “We hope the gorgeous colors in these paintings will ease the pain of the short, gray days. We’re actually presenting landscape exhibitions in both of our galleries this spring; while this exhibition of Tonalist paintings is quite traditional, the exhibition in the museum’s Walsh Gallery features three contemporary artists working in an array of media, looking at landscape through a more spiritual lens in terms of ‘our common home.’”

Tonalism is a term used for a type of landscape and seascape painted by artists in and around New York and Boston during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Devoid of human activity and focused on the subtle effects dawn, twilight, autumn and winter have on landscapes, Tonalist paintings challenge the narrative of God-ordained grandeur and reflect the psychological wreckage of the Civil War and industrialization. The style contrasts the heady optimism and beauty of the Americas portrayed in the previous Hudson River School era.

Emil Carlsen, Golden Tree, 1904, oil on canvas

“The idea for this exhibition was sparked by two great friends of the museum, Dr. Robert Schnurr and Mrs. Rosellen (Walsh) Schnurr (both Fairfield University class of 1974), who told us about the incredible collection of Tonalist paintings owned by their friends Mary Ann and Jack Hollihan,” explains Weber. “The Schnurrs arranged for a fabulous lunch at the Hollihans’ home so we could see the collection and we were instantly hooked, not only by the depth of their collection but by the passion that Mary Ann brings to this topic.” Guest-curated by Mary Ann Hollihan, the exhibition includes paintings from three major private collections. Hollihan will speak about the exhibition in an opening night lecture on January 16.

Robertson Kirtland Mygatt, Edge of the Pond, ca. 1910, oil on canvas

On view will be a George Inness painting from the Milton Klein Collection at the Bridgeport Public Library. The work has not been publicly exhibited in over 70 years. “A member of the museum’s collection committee, Ben Ortiz, told me that the painting was locked away there and took me to see it,” says Weber. “Aside from being a little bit dirty, it was spectacular! We collaborated with the library to have the painting and its frame cleaned up and are excited that people will be able to enjoy seeing it in 2025, in which we mark 200 years since this great artist’s birth.”

Fairfield University also collaborated with the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme. “The famous art colony that centered on the boardinghouse of Miss Florence Griswold in the early 1900s attracted some of the leading artists of the Tonalist movement,” says Weber. “The museum is lending two paintings to the show, and their curator Amy Kurtz Lansing will do a virtual lecture on the Tonalist paintings in the Collection of the FloGris.”

Charles Harold Davis, On the Sound, Noank, Connecticut, ca. 1895, oil on canvas

An array of in-person and virtual programs are being offered in conjunction with the exhibition. All are free and open to the public.

fairfield.edu/museum/tonalism/
(203) 254-4046
Hours: Tues. to Sat., 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
(Thurs. until 8 p.m.),
closed for national and university holidays.

Exhibition Events

Thursday, January 16,
5 p.m.
Opening Night Lecture:
Dawn & Dusk:Tonalism in Connecticut
Mary Ann Hollihan, exhibition curator, interviewed by Carey Weber
Bellarmine Hall, Diffley Board Room and streaming on
quickcenter.fairfield.edu/thequicklive

Thursday, January 16,
6 – 8 p.m.
Opening Reception
Bellarmine Hall, Great Hall and Bellarmine Hall Galleries

Tuesday, January 21,
5 p.m.
Lecture: “To Paint without Paint”: Tonalism and Transcendence
Adrienne Bell, PhD., Professor of Art History, Marymount Manhattan College
Bellarmine Hall, Diffley Board Room and streaming on
quickcenter.fairfield.edu/thequicklive

Friday, January 31, noon
Gallery Talk:
A Landscape Painter’s Reflections – Suzanne Chamlin
Bellarmine Hall,
Bellarmine Hall Galleries

Saturday, February 8,
12:30 – 2 p.m and 2:30 – 4 p.m.
Family Day: “All About Landscape”
Bellarmine Hall Galleries
and Museum Classroom
Registration required,
space limited

Thursday, February 27,
5 – 6:30 p.m.
How to Paint a Landscape
in Watercolor
Artist Suzanne Chamlin, instructor
Bellarmine Hall, Museum Classroom
Registration required, space limited (adults only)

Wednesday, March 26,
5 p.m.
Virtual Lecture on Tonalism Paintings in the Collection of the FloGris
Amy Kurtz Lansing,
Curator, Florence Griswold Museum
Streaming only on
quickcenter.fairfield.edu/thequicklive

Related Articles

All in the Family: Fatherty’s Sustainable Designs Open In Westport

Innovation and style define Faherty—along with sustainability and social responsibility.

Classic With A Twist: Lazy Sister’s Luxe Take on Chinese-American Cuisine

Inside Maxwell Weiss’ new brilliantly branded Chinese hot spot Lazy Sister.

Sustainably Sourced: Hemma Kitchen Offers Locally-Sourced, Fresh Meal Deliveries

When wondering what to make for dinner, Chef Molly Healey’s Hemma Kitchen has the answer, delivered directly to your door