The range of their work reveals that they were clearly not representative of any specific school of art. Paris began working in a style of“ severe minuteness, in the pre-Raphaelite way,” but as night descended, and detail became blurred, he was forced to shift his approach, finishing his painting with a“ few smeary daubs, declaring himself an impressionist.” 44 Abbey attempted a windmill“ in colors,” but the dramatic effect of its“ apparitional wings” eluded him. 45 Reinhart produced a“ Nocturne in black and blue,” obviously a pun on the titles James McNeill Whistler gave his tonal paintings of the 1860s; and Quartley created a“ Hallucination in purple and prisms,” perhaps a humorous allusion to Impressionism. 46
The artists found East Hampton to be a veritable“ painter’ s gold-mine, all bits and nuggets,” which they celebrated in their many on-the-spot sketches. 47 Their activity as plein-air painters( an experience new to most of them) is delightfully captured in Abbey’ s painting en grisaille, Sketching at East Hampton, in which he portrayed his colleagues Quartley and Smith in a carefree moment of painting directly outdoors shielded from the harsh sun by umbrellas( fig. 9). However, the main purpose in visiting East Hampton was to“ guy,” or mock, the local celebrity John Howard Payne. Author of the tremendously popular song Home Sweet Home, which was said to have been inspired by his hometown of East Hampton, Payne was then living in England. After listening to endless tales of Payne’ s early youth and visiting several cottages where he was said to have been born, the artists went back to painting. It is not clear how long the Tilers stayed in East Hampton— probably several days— before continuing on to Montauk. Before leaving, however, they entertained local villagers with their own musical rendition of Home Sweet Home. They reached Montauk by car-
Figure 8. Charles Stanley Reinhart( American, 1844 – 1896), The Tile Club and the Milliner of Bridgehampton, 1879, charcoal and white wash on blue paper, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library.
Figure 9. Edwin Austin Abbey( American, 1852 – 1911), Sketching at Easthampton, 1878, watercolor and gouache on paper, 10 7/8 x 16 13 / 16 in., Heckscher Museum of Art, gift of the Baker / Pisano Collection, 2001.9.1
Decorative Age or Decorative Craze? 15