Edmund Tarbell studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts under Otto Grundmann. He first met Frank Benson there, and their friendship was cemented in 1883 when they both traveled to Paris to enroll in the Académie Julian. In 1889, Tarbell and Benson were appointed to the faculty of the Museum School; under their guidance it became one of the most reputable and profitable art schools in the country. They were also members of the Society of American Artists (SAA) in New York, but later resigned in 1898, along with such figures as Joseph DeCamp and John Twachtman, and founded a group called “The Ten American Painters.” Consisting of painters who had seceded from the SAA in protest of the club’s lowering standards, the group exhibited their impressionist works in numerous New York galleries between the years of 1898 and 1919.

Tarbell’s presence in Boston was long felt, but in 1912 he left his position on the faculty of the Museum School and eventually became the Director of Washington DC’s Corcoran School of Art in 1918. His accomplishments continued over the course of his career to include exhibiting internationally at the Paris Salon, and nationally at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design, with his works earning numerous medals and awards. His success as a portraitist also spurred such important commissions as portrayals of Presidents Hoover and Wilson, but he is best remembered for his thoughtful depictions of women, often his wife and daughters, caught up in their domestic tasks and dappled with sparkling sunlight. 

Provenance:

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Codman

Private collection, Boston, Massachusetts, and by descent through family

To Lagakos-Turak Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

To private collection, Villanova, Pennsylvania

Labels:

1. (on crossbar) Department of Art / Louisiana Purchase Exposition / St. Louis, 1904 / (top portion where Artist, Artist’s Address, Subject, Price, and Insurance Value is torn, with only snippets of writing) / Owner: Artist / Owner’s Address: (blank) / For examination by International Jury of Award: No Yes / To be returned to: Artist
2. (on frame) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts / Special Loan Exhibition / of / Paintings by Frank W. Ben—(torn) / The Late Edmund C. Tarbell / Title: Girl with a Dog / Artist: E. C. Tarbell / Owner: Mrs. Stephen Codman / Address: 10 Chestnut Street / Boston, Mass. / Return Address: 10 Chestnut Street / Boston, Mass. / Valuation for Insurance: $2,000
3. (on crossbar, faint handwritten label) 

Exhibitions:

1. Exhibition of Paintings by Ten American Painters, St. Botolph Club, Boston, Massachusetts, April 21 – May 10, 1902
2. Ninth Annual Exhibition of American Art, Cincinnati Museum Association, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 17 – July 7, 1902
3. Autumn Exhibition, Rhode Island School of Design, Provindence, Rhode Island, October 28 – November 11, 1902
4. Seventy-Second Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 19 – February 28, 1903 (illus).
5. Sixth Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, May 29 – October 4, 1903
6. Sixteenth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, October 20 – November 25, 1903
7. Exhibition of Paintings by Edmund C. Tarbell, St. Botolph Club, Boston, Massachusetts, February 15 – March 5, 1904
8. Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, April – December, 1904, Department of Fine Arts, as no. 741 Girl with Dog
9. Collection of Paintings by Edmund C. Tarbell of Boston, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, April 21 – May 7, 1905
10. First Annual Exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 7 – March 9, 1907
11. Twentieth Annual Exhibition of Oil Paintings and Sculpture by American Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, October 22 – December 1, 1907
12. Exhibition of Paintings by Edmund C. Tarbell, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, January 8 – 29, 1908
13. Paintings by Edmund C. Tarbell, Loan Collection, Copley Society of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, May 2 – 16, 1912
14. Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California, February 20 – December 4, 1915
15. Exhibition of Paintings by Edmund C. Tarbell, Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, Massachusetts, February 5 – 17, 1934
16. Paintings by Frank W. Benson and the Late Edmund C. Tarbell, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, November 16 – December 15, 1938, no. 136, as Girl with a Dog