Edmund
Darch Lewis, (1835-1910) View of the Schuylkill River with Memorial
Hall in the Background, 1876. Oil on canvas, 30 1/4 x 48 in. (76.835 x
121.92 cm.)Private Collection, Chestnut Hill
Albert
Bierstadt, (1830-1902) Niagara, 1869. Oil on paper laid down on
canvas, 19 x 27 in. (48.26 x 68.58 cm.) Joseph E. Temple Fund, 2015.18Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia's key role in the growth of American landscape painting has never been the subject of a major museum exhibition. From the Schuylkill to the Hudson delves
into the important and underexplored tradition of landscape painting in
Philadelphia from the Early American Republic to the Centennial
Exhibition and how that tradition shaped the better-known Hudson River
School in New York State. PAFA's exhibition, along with the accompanying
catalog, illuminates the growth of the landscape genre from its roots,
through its rise into the public consciousness, and as a leading area of
art historical interest.
Thomas
Moran, (1837-1926) Two Women in the Woods, 1870. Oil on canvas, 20 x
30 in. (50.8 x 76.2 cm.) Orton P. Jackson Fund in memory of Emily
Penrose Jackson, 2015.19Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Philadelphia's key role in the growth of American landscape painting has never been the subject of a major museum exhibition. From the Schuylkill to the Hudson will
delve into the important and underexplored tradition of landscape
painting in Philadelphia from the Early American Republic to the
Centennial Exhibition and how that tradition shaped the better-known
Hudson River School in New York State. PAFA's exhibition, along with the
accompanying catalog, will illuminate the growth of the landscape genre
from its roots, through its rise into the public consciousness, and as a
leading area of art historical interest.
"I am thrilled to be able to take a deep dive into PAFA's treasure
trove of landscape paintings dating from the United States' founding in
1776 to its Centennial in 1876," said Dr. Anna O. Marley,
Curator of Historical American Art at PAFA. "As a scholar of early
American landscape in paintings as well as in the decorative arts, I am
excited to share the untold story of Philadelphia's role in the
development of landscape representation in the United States. I hope
this exhibition will appeal to audiences fascinated with the history of
Philadelphia and its waterways, environmental and civic histories, and
lovers of romantic American landscape painting."
Firm
of Joseph Stubbs, Mendenhall Ferry Dish, 1825. Glazed earthenware with
transfer-printed decoration. 13 1/2 x 17 in. (34.29 x 43.18 cm.)
Private Collection, Chestnut Hill.
Thomas Cole—the acknowledged leader of what in the 1870s would come
to be known as the Hudson River School of painting—began his career as a
landscape painter after living and training in Philadelphia and at
PAFA. During the time he spent in the city in the 1820s, he was
influenced by the work of Thomas Doughty and Thomas Birch,
whose American landscapes were on view at PAFA. Doughty and Birch were
only two of many landscape painters living in and exhibiting their work
in Philadelphia at the time, including Charles Willson Peale, James Peale, William Russell Birch, John Lewis Krimmel, Joshua Shaw, Jacob Eichholtz, and Russell Smith,
all of whom are in this exhibition. Indeed, PAFA has been exhibiting
landscape paintings by American artists since its first annual
exhibition in 1811, a full 15 years before the founding of the so-called
"Hudson River School." From the Schuylkill to the Hudson will showcase the manner
in which Philadelphia water views—whether of the Schuylkill,
Wissahickon, or Delaware—constituted some of the earliest and most
influential sites within American visual culture.
The superlative works in the exhibition will be drawn primarily from
PAFA's outstanding permanent collection—along with select public and
private local collections—underlining the key role Philadelphia, and
PAFA itself, played in the development of landscape painting in America.
A highlight of the exhibition will be a group of major Hudson River
School paintings acquired by PAFA over the last 10 years, including
works byThomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt, David Johnson, Frederic Church, and Thomas Moran. In addition to exhibiting paintings and prints, From the Schuylkill to the Hudson: Landscapes of the Early American Republic will
share with visitors the broader story of landscape representation in
Philadelphia by including decorative ceramics produced both locally and
globally.
Thomas
Doughty, (1793-1856) Land Storm, 1822. Oil on canvas, 23 x 31 in.
(58.42 x 78.74 cm.). Courtesy of the David and Laura Grey Collection
The lavishly-illustrated accompanying catalog will include an essay
on landscape representation in Philadelphia in painting and decorative
arts by Dr. Marley, and an essay on the shifting symbolism of waterways
in early American print culture by Ramey Mize, a doctoral candidate at
the University of Pennsylvania.
"Dr. Marley's exhibition is an almost radical proposition for
American art history because she is arguing for an expanded
understanding of landscape painting in America and showing us that
Philadelphia has an established tradition before New York," said PAFA's
Brooke Davis Anderson, Edna S. Tuttleman Director of the Museum. "I am
looking forward to the debate and conversation this exhibition invites." Etch and Flow, a companion exhibition to From the Schuykill to the Hudson,
will feature prints by artists associated with the American Etching
Revival and Impressionism—including James Abbott McNeill Whistler,
Thomas Moran, Mary Nimmo Moran, Margaret M. Taylor, Edith Loring Peirce,
Childe Hassam, and Daniel Garber. The installation will be on view in
the Richard C. von Hess Foundation Works on Paper Gallery in PAFA's
Historic Landmark Building from June 28–December 29, 2019.
The Henry Luce Foundation is generously supporting From the Schuylkill to the Hudson: Landscapes of the Early American Republic. Each year, the Foundation supports several exhibitions drawn mainly from an institution's permanent collection.
The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to enrich public discourse by
promoting innovative scholarship, cultivating new leaders, and fostering
international understanding. Since 1982, the Foundation's American Art
Program has been a leader in art funding in the United States,
supporting museums, universities, and arts organizations in their
efforts to advance the understanding and experience of American and
Native American visual arts through research, exhibitions, publications,
and collection projects.
"From the Schuylkill to the Hudson: Landscapes of the Early American Republic,
like other highly original collection-based exhibitions the
Foundation's American Art Program has recently supported, will
demonstrate that collection-based projects can offer unique and valuable
content that moves the field forward," said Dr. Teresa A. Carbone,
Program Director for American Art at the Foundation.
