At the River's Bend (On the River II)

CC0 Public Domain Designation

1895

Lilla Cabot Perry (American, 1848–1933)

Lilla Cabot Perry anchored this sensitive figure study, modeled by her daughter Edith, in a sun-dappled view of the Epte River in France. Staccato brushstrokes of bright pigments capture the scintillating effects of the surrounding landscape. Perry was one of the first American artists to embrace Impressionism. She studied in Boston and then Paris, where in 1889 she encountered the work of Claude Monet, leading to a friendship with him and numerous summer stays near his home in Giverny. She painted this canvas there in 1895, showcasing her experimentation with form, technique, and color. Garnering an international reputation as an artist, Perry was also an early advocate of modern art in her native Boston.

Status: On View, Gallery 171
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Lilla Cabot Perry
Title: At the River's Bend (On the River II)
Place: Giverny (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1895
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed, lower right, in dark paint: L. C. Perry
Dimensions: 65.5 × 81.5 cm (25 13/16 × 32 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Partial gift of Abbot W. and Marcia L. Vose; through prior bequest of Arthur Rubloff; through prior gift of James D. Thornton, Mrs. Abram Poole, and Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge; through prior bequest of Celia Schmidt; Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Logan Purchase Prize Fund; Mr. and Mrs. Frederick G. Wacker Jr. Endowment Fund
Reference Number: 2020.219
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/256797/manifest.json

Rockport Art Association, Strokes of Genius: Women Artists of New England, Past & Present, exh. cat. (Rockport, MA: Rockport Art Association, 2015), 11 (ill).
Cyrille Sciama and Marie Delbarre, Les enfants de l’impressionnisme, exh. cat. (Giverny, France: Musée des impressionnismes, 2023). 234, cat. 150 (ill.).

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Sixty–Fifth Annual Exhibition, Dec. 23, 1895–Feb. 22, 1896, no. 254, as At the River’s Bend.
Paris, Champs–de–Mars, Société Nationale des Beaux–Arts, no. 992, April 25–[?], 1896, as Au bord de l’eau.
Boston, St. Botolph Club, An Exhibition of Paintings by Mrs. T. S. Perry, Nov. 10–24, 1897, no. 18, as On the River II.
Boston, Guild of Boston Artists, An Exhibition of Paintings by Lilla Cabot Perry, Jan. 10–22, 1927, no. 13, as On the River.
Boston, Boston Art Club, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by Lilla Cabot Perry, Oct. 26–Nov. 18, 1933, no. 22, as On the River II.
Newport, RI, Art Association of Newport, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by Lilla Cabot Perry, Sept. 11–29, 1934, no. 13, as On the River, Giverny II.
Washington, DC, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist, Sept. 28, 1990–Jan. 20, 1991, no. 21, as At the River’s Head [Edith Perry] (On the River, II).
Boston, Vose Galleries, The Boston School Tradition: Truth, Beauty, and Timeless Craft, June 6–Aug. 1, 2015.
Rockport, MA, Rockport Art Association and Museum, Strokes of Genius: Women in the Arts, Past and Present, Oct. 10–Nov. 14, 2015.
Boston, Vose Galleries, Cross Currents: The Colonies, Clubs, and Schools That Established Impressionism in America, Oct. 29, 2016–Jan. 28, 2017.
Giverny, France, Musée des impressionnismes Giverny, Les Enfants de l’impressionnisme, Mar. 31–July 2, 2023, cat. 150.

The artist, to 1933 [according to annotated exh. cat., Boston Art Club, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by Lilla Cabot Perry, Oct. 26–Nov. 18, 1933, copy in Museum of Fine Arts Library, Boston]. Mrs. George H. L. Smith, Palmer, MA, by 1983; sold to Vose Galleries, Boston, October 17, 1983; sold to Abbot W. and Marcia L. Vose, Boston, June 11, 1984; sold/given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2020.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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