Ten, The

Ten, The (more formally, Ten American Painters). A group of well-established American painters from Boston and New York who exhibited together from 1898 to 1919 after resigning from the Society of American Artists, whose exhibitions they considered too conservative and too large. Most of the members of the group had studied in Paris in the 1880s and the common factor in their work was an interest in Impressionism. They were Frank W. Benson (1862–1951); Joseph R. De Camp (1858–1923); Thomas W. Dewing (1851–1938); Childe Hassam; Willard L. Metcalf (1858–1925); Robert Reid (1862–1929); Edward E. Simmons (1852–1931); Edmund C. Tarbell (1862–1938); John H. Twachtman (1853–1902); Julian Alden Weir (1852–1919). On the death of Twachtman his place was taken by W. M. Chase. The Ten held twenty annual exhibitions in New York (at various galleries) and these were sometimes shown in other cities; a final exhibition was shown in Washington in 1919. Although these shows were not particularly radical, they helped to establish a tradition of setting up exhibiting organizations independent of official bodies, foreshadowing such ventures as The Eight and the Armory Show.

The Ten was also the name of a group of American Expressionist painters who exhibited together from 1935 to 1940. Gottlieb and Rothko were among the members.