Although one of America’s most innovative post-impressionist painters, Theodore Earl Butler did not receive the recognition he deserved in his lifetime, since he was all but eclipsed by his famous father-in-law, Claude Monet. Born in 1861, Butler enrolled in the Art Students League in New York, then he studied in various art academies in Paris. In the summer of 1888, he discovered Giverny, the village that was to become the impressionist artists’ colony. Initially inspired by Monet, who settled there in 1883, Butler surpassed the impressionist aesthetic of Monet; using the French painter’s high-keyed palette as a springboard, he developed his own technique, and a style that forecasts elements of the Nabi movement, such as the simplification of forms, a use of pronounced contours, and flattened spatial effects.
Still tied to impressionist subject matter, Butler applied his own vivid, energy-charged brushwork, striking color, highly saturated pigment, and boldly executed compositions that anticipate the canvases of Matisse. The prestigious Vollard Gallery hosted a one-man show for Butler in 1897, however, French critics classified his art as imitative of Monet, as they joined in the anti-American sentiment of the fin de siècle. Butler traveled to New York, where he executed the innovative Brooklyn Bridge, which was very well received.
Henceforth, Butler turned from genre scenes to landscape painting. He expanded his virtuoso brushwork, Fauve-like color, fluid line, and abstraction of form. As an innovator, Butler took part in the Armory Show in Chicago, in 1913, then sent works to the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco two years later. Limited exposure in America and anti-American sentiment in France prevented Butler from gaining the recognition commensurate with his pioneering achievements in art. Great dealers such as Le Barc de Boutteville, Vollard, and Bernheim-Jeune recognized Butler’s innovations but French critics assigned him to the shadow of his celebrated father-in-law. Butler, while remaining in the famous village, chose a more avant-garde path as he would become a leading American post-impressionist. Only recently has his proper place in the history of American art been affirmed.