Theodore Earl Butler
(American, 1861-1936)
East River, 1900
oil on canvas
signed T.E. Butler and dated (lower right)
30 x 40 inches.

This lot will be included in Patrick Bertrand's forthcoming catalogue raisonne of the work of Theodore Earl Butler. We are grateful for his assistance cataloging this lot.

Provenance:
Estate of the Artist
James Butler, son of the Artist
Spanierman Galleries, New York
R.H. Love Galleries, Chicago
Purchased from the above by the present owner

Exhibited:
(possibly) New York, Durand-Ruel Gallery, March 1900
San Francisco, Maxwell Galleries, Theodore Butler: American Impressionist, June 16 - July 17, 1972, no. 734, illus.
Chicago, R.H. Love Galleries, Theodore E. Butler: Emergence from Monet's Shadow, 1984 - 1986; 1996 (and traveling), pp. 211; 428, pl. 46, illus.
Chicago, R.H. Love Galleries, Theodore E. Butler: An American Impressionist, December 16, 2000 - January 31, 2001

Literature:
(possibly) "The Week in Art," The New York Times, March 10, 1900, vol. XLIX, p. 155, no. 15, 653

Lot note:
In the fall of 1899, Theodore Butler left France for New York with his children, Lilly and Jimmy, and his sister-in-law, Marthe. His wife, Suzanne Hoschede and Claude Monet's stepdaughter, had died earlier the same year. Butler had settled in Giverny in the 1880s but left for the United States to be closer to his family after his wife's death. The drastic change between the bucolic landscape of Giverny and the dramatic hustle and bustle of New York clearly inspired the artist. Butler had lived in New York previous to leaving for Europe and the city had changed greatly in the intervening time. He was only to stay for six months, but during that time he produced some of his most acclaimed artworks, including East River.


Composed of iridescent blues, pinks, and purples, East River masterfully conveys the cold, moist air of a New York winter. The lower half of the large canvas depicts a ship and barge in the East River, with the shore and cityscape above. Rolling clouds from the boats' smokestacks divides the composition in half and make the vertical skyscrapers seem to float above the shoreline. Butler used a variety of brushwork, with smoother strokes for the water, smoke, and clouds, and stronger, diagonal strokes for the ships, harbor, and skyline. The effect dissolves all shapes in space uniformly, creating a filmy, chromatic atmosphere that shimmers and flickers across the luminous canvas. It offers the viewer an incredible rendering of the East River, a poetic homage to its industrialization.


East River was likely included in a March 1900 exhibition at the New York location of Galerie Durand-Ruel, along with works by Butler's father-in-law Monet. Three paintings in the exhibition were titled East River and at least one bore the title Brooklyn Bridge. These views of New York were done in Butler's particular combination of impressionist colors and brushwork with postimpressionist abstract, flattened forms and patterning. More accustomed to Monet's brand of impressionism, critics' responses to Butler's work were mixed. However, the uniqueness of his imagery did not go unnoticed. In a letter to his friend, the artist Philip Leslie Hale, Butler stated that "Papa Durand-Ruel bought one of my New York pictures. That sounds quite simple but means a lot to me." Likewise, a critic of the International Studio emphasized that the artist "goes to the extreme of vividness" and shows an "intensely penetrating vision" ("American Studio Talk," International Studio, 10, no. 37 (March 1900), p. IV). In the present work, Butler captures the classic essence of New York, a city that restlessly vibrates with life, even in its still moments.