Edward Francis Rook (September 21, 1870 New York City – October 25, 1960 Old Lyme, Connecticut) was an
American Impressionist
American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose b ...
landscape and marine painter, and a member of the
art colony
An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...
at
Old Lyme, Connecticut
Old Lyme is a coastal town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The main street of the town, Lyme Street, is a historic district with several homes once owned by sea captains. Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is located in Old Lyme and ther ...
.
Biography
Rook studied at the
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists.
Although artists may stu ...
, 1889–91, under
John Twachtman
John Henry Twachtman (August 4, 1853 – August 8, 1902) was an American painter best known for his impressionist landscapes, though his painting style varied widely through his career. Art historians consider Twachtman's style of American Impr ...
Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant
Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant (also known as Benjamin-Constant), born Jean-Joseph Constant (10 June 1845 – 26 May 1902), was a French painter and etcher best known for his Oriental subjects and portraits.
Biography
Benjamin-Constant was bor ...
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...
.David B. Dearinger, "Edward Francis Rook, Jr." ''Paintings and Sculpture at the National Academy of Design, Volume 1: 1826-1925'' (National Academy, Hudson Hill Publishers, 2004), pp. 479-80.
Rook returned to the United States in 1900, and married a childhood friend, Edith Stone, in 1901. They travelled to Canada and California, and spent close to a year in Mexico. Rook had known
Childe Hassam
Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressioni ...
in France, and painted with him at Old Lyme during the summer of 1903. After living in New York City, the Rooks settled in Old Lyme in April 1905.
Rook was a recluse and a bit of an eccentric. In
Henry Rankin Poore
Henry Rankin Poore (1859–1940), often Henry R. Poore, was an American painter and illustrator, known for incorporating human and animal figures into his landscape and genre paintings. He was also a lecturer and critic, and a prolific author on ...
's mural ''The Fox Chase'' (1905), at the Florence Griswold Museum, he is depicted in the background, carrying two large canvases and ignoring the tomfoolery of the other artists. Rook collected cars and built a house around his garage, although he never learned to drive.
Exhibitions, awards and honors
Rook exhibited one work, ''Moonrise, Normandy'', at the 1893
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordi ...
in Chicago, Illinois. He exhibited regularly at the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Temple Gold Medal
Joseph E. Temple Fund Gold Medal (defunct) was a prestigious art prize awarded by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts most years from 1883 to 1968. A Temple Medal recognized the best oil painting by an American artist shown in PAFA's annual e ...
(for ''Pearl Clouds—Moonlight''). He was awarded a bronze medal at the 1901
Pan-American Exposition
The Pan-American Exposition was a World's Fair held in Buffalo, New York, United States, from May 1 through November 2, 1901. The fair occupied of land on the western edge of what is now Delaware Park, extending from Delaware Avenue to Elmwood A ...
in Buffalo, New York (for ''Pearl Clouds—Moonlight'', ''The Mountain Brook'', and ''The Inn—Moonlight''); two silver medals at the
1904 World's Fair
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...
in St. Louis, Missouri (for his oil-on-canvas landscapes of Mexico, and for a pastel: ''Horse Market''); a silver medal at the 1910
Exposición Internacional del Centenario
The Exposición Internacional del Centenario (Centennial International Exposition) was an exhibition held between May and November 1910 in Buenos Aires, to commemorate the Centennial of the May Revolution in Argentina (the formation of the first l ...
in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the RÃo de la Plata, on South ...
, Argentina (for ''Canada in Snow''); and a gold medal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco (for ''Snow, Ice and Foam''). The
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University.
Overview
The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...
awarded him its 1919 bronze medal (for ''Peonies''). He exhibited at the
Lyme Art Association
Lyme Art Association (LAA) is a non-profit art organization established in 1914, with roots going back to 1902. The organization maintains a historic art gallery located at 90 Lyme Street in the Old Lyme Historic District, Old Lyme, Connecticut. T ...
from 1904 to 1943, which awarded him its 1929 first prize (for ''Reflections in a Samovar'').
He was elected an Associate of the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...
in 1908, and an Academician in 1924.
A retrospective exhibition of Rook's work was held at the
Florence Griswold Museum
The Florence Griswold Museum is an Art Museum at 96 Lyme Street in Old Lyme, Connecticut centered on the home of Florence Griswold (1850–1937), which was the center of the Old Lyme Art Colony, a main nexus of American Impressionism. The Museum is ...
in 1987, which holds a number of his works.Diane Pietrucha Fischer, ''Edward F. Rook, 1870–1960, American Impressionist'', exhibition catalogue, (Florence Griswold Museum, 1987 /ref> His works are also in the collections of the
Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...
, the
New Britain Museum of American Art
The New Britain Museum of American Art is an art museum in New Britain, Connecticut. Founded in 1903, it is the first museum in the country dedicated to American art.
A total of 72,000 visits were made to the museum in the year ending June 30, 20 ...
and other museums, along with various Connecticut institutions.