In Nature’s Studio: Two Centuries of American Landscape Painting
Last updated on October 01, 2023
In Nature’s Studio: Two Centuries of American Landscape Painting
October 6, 2023 – January 15, 2024
The Mennello Museum of American Art presents In Nature’s Studio: Two Centuries of American Landscape Painting, featuring the bounty of the American landscape from the early nineteenth century through the twentieth century. In Nature’s Studio is organized by the Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania, and will be on view to the public from October 6, 2023 – January 15, 2024, with an opening reception on October 6 from 5:30 – 8 p.m.
This engaging exhibition combines early depictions of bucolic North American vistas—intimate forest interiors, sweeping panoramic views of natural wonders, and dramatic images of the untamed land and sea—with scenes of Europe, the Near East, and South America.
Katherine Page, Curator of Art and Education at Mennello Museum, states “This exhibition from Reading Public Museum presents an exciting opportunity to highlight some of the earliest movements in American painting, which paved the way for the modernists we know through our collection. Here, narrative, panoramic views of the Hudson River Valley attempt depictions of nature as close to reality as possible. These movements made way for the moody, spirituality of Tonalism and finally the rush of Impressionism.”
The show begins with an exploration of the emergence of the Hudson River School of painting in the 1830s and 40s. Considered America’s first “home-grown” artistic movement, painters of this loosely organized group of artists or “school” recorded the natural beauty of the Hudson River Valley in New York, picturesque sites in the Mid-Atlantic, and majestic views of the American West. These artists harnessed the optimism of the young nation and the seemingly endless potential of the American landscape.
In addition to works by nineteenth-century landscape artists such as Thomas Birch, Frederic Church, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Worthington Whittredge, William Trost Richards, Hermann Herzog, and Aaron Draper Shattuck, the exhibition also examines the late-nineteenth century shift to Impressionism and Tonalism at the turn of the century by painters including George Inness, N. C. Wyeth, Childe Hassam, Edward Willis Redfield, John Fulton Folinsbee, John Mulhaupt, and Robert Spencer. These movements captured the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere by employing new and innovative techniques including painting out-of-doors, en plein air.
In Nature’s Studio is organized by the Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania,
Mennello Museum of American Art and its exhibitions are generously supported by the City of Orlando and Friends of the Mennello Museum of American Art. Additional funding is provided by Orange County Government through the Arts & Cultural Affairs Program and United Arts of Central Florida. Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.
Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826 – 1900), Syria: Ruins by the Sea, 1873 – 1874, oil on canvas, 10 1/2 x 16 inches, Museum Purchase, 1922.157.1. Reading Public Museum, Reading, Pennsylvania.