5874

HUGH HENRY BRECKENRIDGE

Pennsylvania/Massachusetts, 1870-1937

Harbor scene, likely Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Signed lower right "Breckenridge".
Pastel, 10.25" x 10" sight. Framed 18.25" x 18".
Condition: No obvious damages. Framed under plexiglass, plexiglass is scratched. Not examined out of frame.

The absence of a condition report does not imply an object is free of defects. All items may have normal signs of age and wear commensurate with their age; these issues will likely not be mentioned in the condition report. Please contact Eldred's before the auction with any condition questions. Questions about condition will not be answered after purchase. Condition reports are provided as a courtesy, and we are not responsible for any errors or omissions. Important note on frames: Frames are not guaranteed to be in the same condition as they are in the item photograph. Due to handling and shipping, many frames, especially antique ones, are prone to losses. If you have questions about the condition of a frame, please contact us prior to the auction. 

  • Provenance: Notes:
    Hugh Henry Breckenridge was long associated with Philadelphia as a modernist painter and teacher.

    From 1887 to 1892 he was a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he later taught for more than 40 years. In 1892 he was awarded a scholarship that enabled him to study in Paris at the Academie Julian with William Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) and to travel through Europe. He was accompanied on his trip by Pennsylvania impressionist Walter E. Schofield (1869-1944).

    Breckenridge's subsequent landscapes, portraits and figure paintings reveal the influence of Impressionism and an overwhelming fascination with color. His first solo exhibition in 1904 included both paintings and pastels. Breckenridge also produced many commissioned portraits, which provided him with a source of income; these exhibit the dazzling brushwork typical of society portraiture of the period. A second trip to Europe with Schofield in 1909 introduced Breckenridge to more avant-garde trends.

    During the 1910s he worked alternately in a vigorous Neoimpressionist technique, which he referred to as "tapestry painting" -- a somewhat academic style enriched by an Expressionist palette. He gained national recognition as a foremost Modernist with these works.

    In 1922 Breckenridge began exhibiting abstract paintings, some of which recall the Improvisations of Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944). These abstractions of irregularly shaped colored planes most commonly suggest the nature or the velocity of modern life. Above all, they demonstrate his fascination with the theoretical basis of color.

    Breckenridge began teaching at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1894. During the summer of 1900 he and Thomas Anshutz established the Darby School of Painting in Darby, Pennsylvania. Breckenridge also established his own school in East Gloucester, Massachusetts.

    In 1919 he became director of fine arts at the Maryland Institute in Baltimore. In his last years Breckenridge sometimes returned to Impressionism, painting landscapes of Gloucester and still life paintings.

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July 26, 2024 9:30 AM EDT
East Dennis, MA, US

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