An Interlude in Giverny

Frederick MacMonnies is best known today as one of the leading figurative sculptors of the American Renaissance. Residing in France for much of his professional career, MacMonnies, along with his first wife, the painter Mary Fairchild MacMonnies, often visited Giverny, home to the reclusive Claude Monet and numerous American Impressionists in the final decade of the 19th century. By 1894 the town was the MacMonnies’s favourite summer retreat, and in 1898 they moved permanently into an old priory in Giverny, dubbed the MacMonastery by friends. It was at this time, just as the new century dawned, that MacMonnies launched his career as a painter. Although he continued to produce sculpture, the artist happily painted portraits and occasionally submitted paintings to the annual salons. Mary MacMonnies also continued to pursue her artistic career from their remote enclave outside Paris. This catalogue, which accompanied two exhibitions, An Interlude in Giverny: ‘The French Chevalier’ by Frederick MacMonnies and An Interlude in Giverny: ‘Dans la Nursery’ by Mary MacMonnies Low , explores the artistic and personal milieu surrounding the creation of two masterworks by the MacMonnieses during this Giverny interlude.