Picture Appledore Island in the 19th century, when a bustling hotel lodged legendary artists of the American Impressionist movement including Childe Hassam, William Morris Hunt, John Appleton Brown and Ellen Robbins. Celia Thaxter’s home and garden was a haven for these and many other artists, who returned year after year for the vivid, sublime scenery and the company of like-minded luminaries gathered at Celia’s salons.

 

     To paint plein-air on the rugged island, these painters employed a creative solution: they repurposed empty cigar boxes, using the opened box as palette, easel and painting surface. And when it came time to travel, the closed box protected the painting. In 2016, the Peabody-Essex Museum’s exhibit “American Impressionist: Childe Hassam and the Isles of Shoals” devoted an entire room to Hassam’s cigar box paintings, many created in the vicinity of Thaxter’s home.

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     In the spirit of Childe Hassam, we are delighted to announce that ten distinguished SML Artist in Residence alumni returned to Appledore in August to craft their own cigar box paintings, capturing the island’s fleeting light and unruly beauty for a new era.

 

     These unique works will be exhibited in the salon of the Hotel Thaxter, and available for preview and sale at our VIP event on November 1, 2023.