Portraits | Current Projects | Daily Paintings | Mudheads

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MUDHEADS

The term “Mudhead” was originally used by Charles W. Hawthorne who, in 1899, founded the Cape Cod School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts.  He was a student of William Merritt Chase in New York.  Mudhead was the term he used to describe the method of painting the color and shape of light with disregard for detail and features. 

This was the period of Impressionism when in 1874 Monet, Renoir, Degas and Cassette first started exhibiting their works of the impression of light.  At the time that Hawthorne taught, Impressionism was still new and artist came from all over the U.S. and Europe to Cape Cod for its unique quality of light to study this new method.  When Hawthorne died in 1930, his student, Henry Hensche took over teaching this method of seeing and painting light.  One of these students was Cedric Egeli. 

Today, this method of painting is still being taught by a handful of artists, such as Cedric and Joanette Egeli, each summer in Provincetown.  Galleries in Provincetown still exhibit some of the original mudheads from the turn of the century.

This online exhibit contains a collection of small works that Christine produced during the summer of 2008 under the teaching of the Egelis on a Provincetown beach.  They are mostly oil on panel unless otherwise noted.  They chronicle her study of light and make a charming memento of vacations on the beach.

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