Full Sun: American Women Artists Illuminate the Haggin Museum

For this exhibition, members of American Women Artists (AWA) were asked to create artwork inspired by a selection of 13 paintings from the Haggin Museum’s 19th – 20th century. The collection includes art by William Merritt Chase, Albert Bierstadt, Rosa Bonheur, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and other notable artists. 

AWA artists were invited to take their inspiration from the artwork, the artist’s greater body of work, or the theme of the painting. The exhibit includes painting and scupture.

Image: Cream & Coffee, Ellen Buselli, Oil on linen, 18” x 15”

New York artist and Master AWA member Ellen Buselli chose William Merritt Chase’s 1884 painting “Alice Gerson” as creative influence for her artwork. Buselli explains, “In both works of art, the sitter glances away in an oddly engaging partial far silhouette. Both works are painted in light pastel tones and soft color harmonies with compressed values.” She adds, “Although the paintings were painted about 134 years apart, each one shows the loveliness of the sitter. The wonderful difference is that ‘Cream & Coffee’ is a 21st century contemporary version of Chase’s turn-of-the century female pose.”