American

Asher B. Durand

U.S. 1796-1886
Landscape 25.0083

---

The isolated setting for the Parthenon-like cabin in this landscape is meant to remind the viewer of the awesome scale of, in Durand's words, "the great book of Nature" and the reverence due from its inhabitants. Trained as an engraver, Asher B. Durand first gained attention with an engraving of John Trumbull's epic painting of the signing The isolated setting for the Parthenon-like cabin in this landscape is meant to remind the viewer of the awesome scale of, in Durand's words, "the great book of Nature" and the reverence due from its inhabitants. Trained as an engraver, Asher B. Durand first gained attention with an engraving of John Trumbull's epic painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which took three years to engrave. It wasn't until Durand was almost forty that he abandoned a successful career as an engraver, for painting. Durand quickly become known for his representations of Hudson River landscape in which he carried over an engraver's love of line and meticulous detail. As one of the first generation of Hudson River School painters, he united love of the American landscape-as-wilderness with romantic and idealized notions about the function of the artist as the voice of nature. Unlike other Hudson River School painters Durand preferred to paint out-of-doors rather than in the studio. The Hudson River School succeeded in elevating American landscape painting as an independent genre in the early nineteenth century--as the frontier moved westward the mystique of nature became part of American culture.

 

BACK TO COLLECTION