Cecilia Beaux

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Half-Tide, Annisquam River (Cape Ann) ca. 1905 Cecilia Beaux

Artists are drawn to the rugged topography, quiet coves and brilliant light of Cape Ann, Massachusetts. The area hosted its second plein air painting competition and festival this year (2017) with the slogan, “An invitation to paint en plein air where it all first began.”

We’ve written about the history of artists convening to paint in Cape Ann in our article, “Motif No. 1 - The Painters of Cape Ann”. Well known artists have traveled to Cape Ann since the middle of the 18th century. It became the nexus of the oldest continuously working artist colony in America.

Over the decades, Cape Ann exerted a pull on talented artists of the very highest caliber. The roster of talent reads like a Who’s Who of American Art, from Winslow Homer, William Morris Hunt, Frederick Mulhaupt, Frank Duveneck, Willard Metcalf, Childe Hassam, John Sloan, John Twachtman, Edward Hopper, Aldro Hibbard, Paul Cornoyer and Marsden Hartley to…