John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist
Mint Museum Uptown, Charlotte
Through January 2, 2022
John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–1899)
Self Portrait, ca. 1890
Oil on canvas, 11 x 9 inches
Private Collection
Courtesy of Martha Richardson Fine Art, Boston
James Carroll Beckwith (American, 1852–1917)
Portrait of John Leslie Breck, 1891
Oil on canvas, 13¼ x 17¼ inches
Collection of Max N. Berry
The Mint Museum presents the premiere of John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist, an exhibition showcasing more than 70 works by one of the first American artists to introduce Impressionism to the United States. The exhibition is the first ever organized by a museum to be dedicated to works by John Leslie Breck.
Drawn from public and private collections, as well as the acclaimed Terra Foundation collection of American art, many of the works have not been on public view in more than a century. In addition to John Leslie Breck’s landscape-inspired works, the exhibition highlights his exploration of new styles and approaches to painting in the years before his early death at the age of 38. More than 10 related paintings by John Leslie Breck’s French and American Impressionist colleagues, including Theodore Robinson, Willard Metcalf, and Lila Cabot Perry, are also featured in the exhibition.
John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–1899)
Chez M. Monet, 1888
Oil on canvas, 18 x 22 inches
Private Collection
John Leslie Breck (American, 1860–1899)
Suzanne Hoschedé Sewing, 1888
Oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 21 7/8 inches.
The Mint Museum, Gift of the Mint Museum Auxiliary and
courtesy Heather James Fine Art. 2016.25
The Sketch Class, 1890
Oil on panel, 5¼ x 7 inches.
Private Collection
The exhibition is inspired by The Mint Museum’s acquisition of John Leslie Breck’s canvas Suzanne Hoschedé-Monet Sewing. “I have been an admirer of John Leslie Breck’s beautiful, trailblazing paintings ever since my first encounter with his work at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the late 1990s,” says Jonathan Stuhlman, senior curator of American art at The Mint Museum. “When we had the opportunity to acquire one for The Mint Museum in 2016, it was the perfect catalyst for the museum to begin organizing this exhibition — the first retrospective of his work since his death in 1899.”
“The importance of John Leslie Breck’s works and his introduction of French Impressionism to an American audience has largely gone unrecognized but is an important part of American art history,” says Todd A. Herman, PhD, president and CEO of The Mint Museum. “Through dedicated research and work by the staff at the Mint, Breck and his beautiful paintings will be brought back into the conversation of American art.”
In addition, a 208-page, fully illustrated exhibition catalogue is available. Stuhlman collaborated with leading Breck scholars Royal Leith and Jeffrey Brown to bring together Breck’s finest paintings, as well as to create the first ever monograph produced about the artist, which also includes contributions from Erica Hirshler, PhD, and Katherine Bourguignon, PhD.
After debuting at The Mint Museum, John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist will travel to the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee in the winter of 2022 and the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa in the spring of 2022.
John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist is generously presented by Bank of America, with additional support provided by The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts and the Mint Museum Auxiliary. Individual support provided by Charlie and Susan Murray in honor of Welborn and Patty Alexander, and Mary and Dick Payne.
MINT MUSEUM UPTOWN
at Levine Center for the Arts
500 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28202
