Charlotte in New York (8 page)

She never cooked a Thanksgiving dinner before, and everything was delicious. Bravo, Raymonde! “Bien fait!” Well done!

Papa's friend from Giverny, Mr. Theodore Butler, came along with the Fosters. He's Monsieur Monet's son-in-law. He's in New York on a painting trip, and Papa invited him to dinner. He brought some paintings to show (I loved the one of the Statue of Liberty!). And news of Monsieur Monet—he's off to paint in Norway in January. The Norwegian queen asked him to come!

When Mr. Butler left, I gave him the Good and Plenty candies to take back to Monsieur Monet. I wrote the label in my best handwriting:

I hope he likes them as much as I think he will!

The next day

When I woke up this morning, Mr. Butler's painting was hanging on my wall! I rushed downstairs to ask Papa about it. He reminded me of the foggy morning we sailed into New York harbor and how I had been the one to see the lady with the lamp and book before anyone else did. “Now she's yours to see any time you want,” he said. Thank you, Papa!

Central Park in Winter

December 1, 1894

24 Fifth Avenue
New York

Today we had our first snowfall. Mama and I went ice-skating in Central Park. On our way home, we saw Mr. Hassam waving to us from his carriage. He asked Mama if she would mind standing still a moment. “For a quick sketch,” he said. Mama didn't mind a bit. Later she told me she was glad she had decided on her favorite Paris coat that day—the pink with white fur.

I peeked inside the carriage and saw that it was filled with painting supplies. Back in Giverny, Monsieur Monet paints in a studio-boat on the river Epte. Here in New York, Mr. Hassam paints in his carriage! When he sees something he wants to paint, he tells the driver to rein in the horses. Then he gets to work. That's how he came to paint a beautiful picture of Mama walking home through the snow.

Papa says he might use the money from the exhibition for a painting trip to England. He hears the light there is like no other. Besides, Mama wants to have her portrait painted by Mr. John Singer Sargent, who lives there. I have to talk to Lizzy about this!

But first I need to buy a new journal. I've already filled this one up, and our adventure has barely begun. . . .

In order of journal entry

April 15, 1894

Berthe Morisot (1841–1895)

Interior of a Cottage
, 1886.

Oil on canvas, 20 × 24 inches.

Musée d'Ixelles, Brussels, Fritz Toussaint Collection.

April 15, 1894

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925)

Young Boy on the Beach, Sketch for “Oyster Gatherers of Cancale,” 1877.

Oil on canvas, 17¼ × 10¼ inches.

Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.132. Photograph courtesy of Terra Foundation for American Art.

April 24, 1894

Reconstruction of the dining room at the Buvette de la Plage. Photograph courtesy of the Association des Amis de la Maison Marie Henry, Le Pouldu.

April 29, 1894

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903)

Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven
, 1888.

Oil on canvas, 28¾ × 36½ inches.

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon.

Image © 2005 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

May 2, 1894

Paul Sérusier (1863–1927)

Thatched Cottage with Three Ponds
, 1889–90.

Oil on canvas, 28¾ × 36¼ inches.

Private collection.

May 8, 1894

Mary Cassatt (1844–1926)

Portrait of Louisine Havemeyer and Her Daughter Electra
, 1895.

Pastel on paper, 24 × 30½ inches.

Copyright © Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont.

May 13, 1894

William Merritt Chase (1849–1916)

Dorothy
, 1902.

Oil on canvas, 72 × 36 inches.

Indianapolis Museum of Art, John Herron Fund.

May 19, 1894

Childe Hassam (1859–1935)

Sunday on Fifth Avenue
, circa 1890–91.

Watercolor on paper, 30½ × 19 inches.

Transparency courtesy of James Graham & Sons, New York.

June 1, 1894

Maurice Prendergast (1858–1924)

The Terrace Bridge, Central Park
, 1901.

Watercolor over graphite, on ivory wove paper, 15¼ × 22½ inches.

The Olivia Shaler Swan Memorial Collection, 1939.431. Reproduction, The Art Institute of Chicago.

June 16, 1894

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925)

La Carmencita
, 1890.

Oil on canvas, 90 × 54¼ inches.

Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Photograph: Gerard Blot. Copyright © Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Art Resource, New York.

July 20, 1894

Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947)

Woman with Dog
, 1891.

Oil on canvas, 16 × 12¾ inches.

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1979.23.

August 12, 1894

Hassam painting on the porch of Celia Thaxter's cottage, Appledore, Isles of Shoals, circa 1890.

Milne Special Collections, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, New Hampshire.

October 10, 1894

James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903)

Note in Red: The Siesta
, by 1884.

Oil on panel, 8
⁵
/
₁₆
× 12 inches.

Terra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection, 1999.149. Photograph courtesy of Terra Foundation for American Art.

Thanksgiving Day, 1894

Theodore Butler (1876–1937)

Statue of Liberty in the Mist
, 1899.

Oil on canvas, 40 × 30 inches.

Private collection.

All other photographs and ephemera collection of the author.

F
RÉDÉRIC
A
UGUSTE
B
ARTHOLDI
(1834–1904) Sculptor, painter and photographer Bartholdi was born in Colmar, in the Alsace region of France. While on a trip to Egypt in 1855, he became fascinated with colossal sculpture and returned in 1869 with a proposal to build a lighthouse at the entrance to the just completed Suez Canal, in the form of a gigantic draped figure holding a torch. Although that project never happened, his idea would find expression in New York harbor as the Statue of Liberty.

P
IERRE
B
ONNARD
(1867–1947) Born in Fontenay-aux-Roses, France, Bonnard, the son of a War Ministry official, enrolled in both law school and the Académie Julian. When a poster he designed won a competition, he rented a studio in Montmartre and turned full-time to painting. He studied Japanese prints, admired Gauguin's paintings and joined Sérusier's group, the Nabis, creating designs for posters, stained glass, fans and furniture. Bonnard traveled throughout Europe on painting trips, often with Edouard Vuillard, and became friends with Monet and Renoir.

J
OHN
A
PPLETON
B
ROWN
(1844–1902) A native of Newburyport, Massachusetts, Brown studied painting in Paris with the Normandy landscapist Emile Lambinet. From 1875 on, he lived in New England, where his beautiful paintings of pastoral scenes in springtime earned him the nickname “Appleblossom Brown.” He was a frequent visitor to Appledore Island and a good friend of Celia Thaxter's, to whom he gave painting lessons.

T
HEODORE
E
ARL
B
UTLER
(1861–1936) A native of Ohio, Butler studied with William Merritt Chase at the Art Students League in New York before traveling to Paris to enroll at the Académie Julian. In 1888, he went to Giverny to paint and became a permanent resident of the village when he married Monet's daughter, Suzanne Hoschedé. He was one of the earliest American Impressionists to paint scenes of New York City and had a one-artist show at the Durand-Ruel gallery there in 1900, which featured a number of his paintings of busy New York harbor and the East River.