Art colony facts for kids

Ogunquit, Maine, was a big art colony for much of the 1900s. Artists came here to paint the beautiful landscape and to learn modern art styles.

An art colony is a special place where artists live and work together. They often share ideas and create art in a unique style. It's like a community just for creative people!

Some art colonies are planned very carefully. Others just grow naturally as more and more artists decide to move there.

For example, the MacDowell Colony was started by a composer (someone who writes music). He loved his quiet country home and wanted to create a place where artists from different fields could live, work, and share ideas. So, he and his wife built a formal institution for this purpose.

The Taos art colony in Taos, New Mexico, grew in a different way. Artists simply started settling and working there. Soon, more artists arrived, and art galleries and museums opened. This made Taos a famous center for art.

Today, one of the biggest and newest international art colonies is in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in New York. Another important art colony in New York was the Roycroft community.

What is an Art Colony?

An art colony is a place where many artists gather to live and create. These places help artists connect, learn from each other, and sometimes even develop new art styles. It's a bit like a school, a workshop, and a home all rolled into one!

How Art Colonies Start

Art colonies can begin in different ways:

• Planned Communities: Some colonies are carefully designed and built. They might have studios, living spaces, and shared areas for artists.
• Natural Growth: Other colonies grow on their own. Artists might discover a beautiful area or a cheap place to live. As more artists move there, it becomes known as an art colony.

Famous Art Colonies and Their Artists

Many artists became well-known for staying in one village for a long time. For example, Jean-François Millet lived in Barbizon, France. Claude Monet, a famous Impressionist painter, lived in Giverny, France. These artists were respected in their colonies, even if they weren't always the official leaders.

Some artists were "colony hoppers." This means they traveled between many different art colonies in Europe and the United States. For instance, Max Liebermann painted in several German and Dutch colonies. Frederick Judd Waugh worked in places like Barbizon, France, and Provincetown, USA.

Art Colonies Around the World

Here are some other notable art colonies:

• Ahrenshoop, Germany
• Auvers-sur-Oise, France
• Barbizon, France
• Cornish, New Hampshire, USA
• Dachau, Germany
• Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
• Grez-sur-Loing, France
• Lyme, Connecticut, USA
• New Hope, Pennsylvania, USA
• Nida, Lithuania
• Ogunquit, Maine, USA
• Pont-Aven, France
• Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA
• Rockport, Massachusetts, USA
• St. Ives, Cornwall, England
• Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
• Skagen, Denmark
• Worpswede, Germany

Images for kids

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  Champs à Barbizon (Field in Barbizon) by Georges Seurat, painted around 1882, shows the countryside in France.

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  Claude Monet painted the French countryside in Poppy Field in a Hollow near Giverny, 1885.

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  Students working at the Newlyn Art School in England, 1910.

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  Provincetown was known as an art center, and many art schools thrived there. This picture shows an outdoor art class in 1940.

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  The Ox-bow School of Art and Artists' Residency in Saugatuck, Michigan.

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  A view from historic Jerome, Arizona. This old copper-mining town became a ghost town before artists and tourists helped bring it back to life.

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  The Carmel Arts & Crafts Hall in California, 1907.

See also

In Spanish: Colonia de artistas para niños