The Tile Club: Camaraderie and American Plein-Air Painting The Tile Club | Page 37

Figure 23. Théodore Rousseau (French, 1812–1867), Effet de Givre (Hoarfrost), 1845, oil on
canvas, 25 x 38 9/16 in., Walters Art Gallery, acquired by William T. Walters, 1882, 37.25
home of the prominent Baltimore collector William
T. Walters (1820–94). Among the Tilers who attended
were Chase, Quartley, Laffan, Millet, Weir, Gifford,
Sarony, and the honorary members Baird, Lewenberg,
and Truslow. As noted in the local press, the painting
that most impressed the Tilers was Théodore Rous-
seau’s Effet de Givre (The Hoarfrost), 1845 (fig. 23).
Done directly from nature as a finished painting rather
than a sketch, this work was considered an important
achievement in the development of plein-air painting.
And it is significant that the Tilers, many of whom and others were lobbying in Washington D.C. for the
abolition of the unfair tariff recently imposed on the
importation of foreign art. Additional personal matters
distracted Tile Club members in 1884. Stanford White
got married, and he and his wife traveled to Europe,
visiting Vedder while in Italy; Chase spent the summer
in Holland; Weir became a father; Quartley established
a studio in London; and Millet moved with his family
to Broadway, England. A new member was, however,
added to the club, William Gedney Bunce, and an
article, “Glimpses of the Tile Club,” was released in Art
diversion for several Tilers was political; Chase, Millet, club was indeed still active. 139
were experimenting with outdoor painting themselves,
would have responded so noticeably to it. 138 Another
Amateur (October 1884), with illustrations by Vedder,
Abbey, Sarony, and Quartley, assuring the public the
Decorative Age or Decorative Craze? 31