The First Thaw

Inscriptions

Signed, lower left: W. L. METCALF.; inscribed, on lower tacking ege, in graphite [not in artist's hand]: Metcalf [MacBeth Gallery label on reverse of stretcher, as well as, H. Powell, N.Y. art supply label.]

Label

In contrast to mid-19th-century American landscapists, who typically sought out awe-inspiring, panoramic views, Willard Metcalf and many of his peers gravitated toward more intimate, calming glimpses of nature, as seen in The First Thaw. A brook leads our eyes back into the composition, but evergreens block any distant view. We focus instead on the stream’s meandering path, its soft, thawing edges, and the artist’s richly colored palette and staccato brushwork, which enliven the scene.

Metcalf painted The First Thaw during one of several visits he made to the art colony of Cornish, New Hampshire, between 1909 and 1920. Unlike most of the writers, artists, and musicians who flocked to Cornish in summer, he sought out the area’s winters, which afforded him the opportunity to paint his favored snow-covered landscapes. Many artists of different stylistic stripes shared Metcalf’s enthusiasm for winter subjects at this time. A layer of snow and ice could offer a degree of abstraction by eliminating extraneous detail. And with the dramatic growth of cities—often associated with noise, dirt, and close quarters—pastoral scenery, pure-white snow, and bracing country air held value as therapeutic antidotes to urban life.

From the 2019 exhibition American Art, Colonial to Modern, curated by Barbara J. MacAdam, Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art

Course History

WRIT 7, Religion and Literature: Revisioning the Invisible, Nancy Crumbine, Spring 2014

WRIT 5, Writing into the Wilderness, Nancy Crumbine, Spring 2014

WRIT 5, Writing into the Wilderness, Nancy Crumbine, Fall 2014

WRIT 5, Writing into the Wilderness, Nancy Crumbine, Fall 2014

WRIT 5, Writing Into the Wilderness, Nancy Crumbine, Winter 2015

WRIT 5, Writing Into the Wilderness, Nancy Crumbine, Winter 2015

WRIT 7 , Religion and Literature: Re-visioning the Natural, Nancy Crumbine, Spring 2015

Exhibition History

American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-December 9, 2007.

American Art, Colonial to Modern, Israel Sack Gallery and Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019-September 12, 2021.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 21, 1992-June 22, 1997.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 2, 2009-present.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 16, 1997-November 29, 1998.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 16, 1999-May 8, 2007.

Ten American Painters, Boston, Massachusetts, Copley Society, April 14-May 5, 1913, as The First Thaw

Ten American Painters, Montross Gallery, New York, New York, March 12-April 15, 1913, no. 21 as The First Thaw

Ten American Painters, Spanierman Gallery, New York, New York, May 8-June 9, 1990, as The First Thaw

Winter's Promise: Willard Metcalf in Cornish, New Hampshire 1909-1920, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 9-March 14, 1999.

Publication History

Barbara J. MacAdam, Winter's Promise: Willard Metcalf in Cornish, New Hampshire 1909-1920, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1999, p. 21, 32, 62, cat. entry no. 13, ill. p.63, listed p. 70.

Rebecca Bailey, What Is There to Teach About Art?, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, Volume 88, Number 8, May 1996, South Burlington: The Lane Press Inc., 1996, pp.36-45, ill. p. 42

Barbara J. MacAdam, Hood Museum of Art: Recent Acquisitions, American Art Review, Volume VI, Number 6, December 1994-January 1995, Kansas City: American Arts Media, Inc. p. 97

William H. Gerdts, et. al.,"Ten American Painters", New York: Spanierman Gallery, 1990, p. 111.

Elizabeth de Veer and Richard J. Boyle," Sunlight and Shadow: The Life and Art of Willard L. Metcalf", New York: ASbbevill Press, 1987, pp. 106, 237.

"Ten American Painters", Boston Evening Transcript, April 12, 1913, part II, p. 3.

"Important Exhibit in Copley Gallery, 'Ten American Painters' Represented," Boston Daily Advertiser, April 14, 1913, p. 5.

Barbara J. MacAdam, American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Muesum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 74-75, no. 52.

Barbara J. MacAdam, Building on Dartmouth's Historic American Collections: Hood Museum of Art Acquisitions since 1985, The Magazine Antiques, November 2007, New York: Brant Publications, color ill. p. 142-143.

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 60, ill. fig. 9.2.

Provenance

Estate of Gunnar W.E. Nicholson, New York; Gunnar W.E. Nicholson, New York; [Grand Central Galleries, New York]; Parke-Bernet Galleries, December 6, 1956, Sale no. 1717, lot no. 181]; Appleton H. Seaverns, Hartford, Connecticut; Charles T. Seaverns, Hartford, Connecticut, 1916 (for $2,000); [Knoedler Gallery, New York]; [William McBeth, New York]; Spanierman Gallery, LLC, New York, New York; purchased by present collection, 1992.

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