American

John Frederick Kensett

U.S. 1816-1872
Landscape 25.0163

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The start of the landscape movement in America is closely linked to the painters of the Hudson River and its environs. These artists fused a pragmatic and empirical look at nature with an idealized and romantic view of America, of its duty to civilize and tame the uncleared land of the continent while preserving its essence. America's nature was viewed as old, as closer to God's original blueprint, but it was, at the same time, new, fresh, and full of a creative force found nowhere in Europe. John Frederick Kensett began his career as an engraver. His sketching tours with landscape painter Asher B. Durand in the Adirondacks and Catskill Mountains of upstate New York resulted in scenes that were marvels of clever handling and color, subdued and deliberate translations of his poetic feelings about nature.

 

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