Cos Cob art colony facts for kids
The Cos Cob art colony was a special group of artists. Many of them were American Impressionists, who gathered during the summer in and around Cos Cob. This area is part of Greenwich, Connecticut. The colony was active from about 1890 to 1920.
One artist, Childe Hassam, gave the group a funny nickname. He called it "the Cos Cob Clapboard School of Art." This was because they loved painting pictures of the local wooden houses.
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A Gathering of Artists in Cos Cob
Artists had been visiting Greenwich to paint since the 1870s. But the art colony really started when John Henry Twachtman moved there in 1889. Greenwich was a short train ride from New York City. Yet, it still felt like the countryside, which artists loved.
Many of Twachtman's friends came to visit him. These friends included Hassam, J. Alden Weir, Theodore Robinson, Henry Fitch Taylor, and Robert Reid. For longer visits, they stayed at the Holley House. This old house is now known as the Bush–Holley House. It looked out over Cos Cob's small harbor.
Summer Art Classes
During the winter, Twachtman and Weir taught art in New York City. They taught at the Art Students League of New York. Starting around 1890, Twachtman began offering summer art classes in Cos Cob. Weir also taught with him in 1892 and 1893.
Many students from the Art Students League came to Cos Cob for these summer classes. Some of the artists who first visited as students were Elmer Livingston MacRae, Ernest Lawson, Allen Tucker, Charles Ebert, Mary Roberts Ebert, Alice Judson, and Genjiro Yeto.
Other Artists and Writers
Other artists also joined the Cos Cob art colony. These included Leonard Ochtman, Mina Fonda Ochtman, Dorothy Ochtman, Edward Clark Potter, Emil Carlsen, George Wharton Edwards, and Kerr Eby.
The art colony was not just for painters. Many writers and editors were also part of the group. Famous people like Lincoln Steffens and Willa Cather visited Cos Cob.
Art Shows and Societies
The artists from Cos Cob helped organize the Armory Show. This was a very important art exhibition in 1913. It showed modern European art to many people in America for the first time.
The art colony also created its own local group in 1911. This group was called the Greenwich Society of Artists. It is now known as the Greenwich Art Society. Their first art show was in 1912 at the Bruce Museum. The museum opened to the public for the very first time with this exhibition.
