Hackerman House in Mount Vernon is the setting for the Walters Art Museum’s latest exhibit of paintings, entitled “From Gérôme to Monet: Stories from the 19th Century Collection.”
The museum is drawing from its own collection for the exhibit, which opened Feb. 7 and runs until May 31. It explores “the different, overlapping and sometimes conflicting ideas that existed in the 19th century about how paintings should tell stories and connect with their audiences.”
Hackerman House, at 1 W. Mount Vernon Place, is a restored 19th century mansion that’s part of the museum’s Mount Vernon campus and connected to its 1904 “palazzo” building at 600 N. Charles St. Previously known as the Thomas-Jencks-Gladding House, it was constructed around 1848 for Dr. John Hanson Thomas, the great-grandson of John Hanson, President of the Continental Congress.
According to the museum, this exhibit “marks the first time that a large number of paintings will be installed in Hackerman House and the first time in over a decade that the museum’s collection of Impressionist paintings will be on view in one contiguous space.”
Curated by Jo Briggs, the museum’s Jennie Walters Delano Curator of 18th and 19th Century Art, the exhibit “places works by officially recognized artists trained at government-sponsored art schools side by side with paintings completed in the same years by the Impressionists, illustrating the two contrasting, yet coexisting, schools of thought.” The installation includes 20 paintings and one sculpture.
According to the Walters, “the first Impressionist group exhibition was held in Paris in 1874. At first, the broad, unblended brushstrokes used by the Impressionists shocked contemporary viewers, who were used to the polished and detailed work of academically trained painters. Now, 150 years later, the Impressionists’ subjective approach to painting is perhaps more admired than the empirical approach of establishment painters to whom they were compared.”
The Walters’ exhibit includes Springtime (1872) by Claude Monet; Sappho and Alcaeus (1881) by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema; The Tulip Folly (1882) by Jean-Léon Gérôme, and more works that explore the variety of narrative and artistic approaches used by painters in the 19th century. PNC Bank is the presenting sponsor.
“We know that visitors love our collection of 18th- and 19th-century painting and sculpture, and we are pleased to put these well-known artworks back on view for them to experience once again, this time with a new perspective,” Briggs said in a statement. “Fans of these works will be excited to learn that this display is just a taste of a larger installation of works from this collection area currently being planned for Hackerman House in 2027.”
Admission is free. Hours are: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday; 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays, and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. More information is at thewalters.org.
