The practice of sketching and painting outdoors was adopted by the US artists early, in the 19th century, under the direct influence of the French schools of painting and especially of the Impressionists. Young artists were particularly fond of this technique, and especially the Hundson River School proclaimed the necessity of this, and in just a few years plein air work became a fundamental part of landscape painting in the United States. One of the "apostles" of this way of painting was Asher B. Durand, leader of the Hudson River School and president of the National Academy of Design.
The Brooklyn Museum will be presenting until July 29 the exhibition "Under the Open Sky", showcasing works of fifteen US artists who followed the advice of Durand and chose to work in nature, being face to face with the subject.
The American young artists adopted plein air painting after the 1820's, influenced by the Europeans who wanted to capture on canvas the very essence of their impressions of nature. But in America landscapes were not only themes, but also gained a moral, spiritual and even nationalistic value, being represented with a certain pride and passion. At the same time it was a way of creating naturalist compositions, mainly under the guided influece of John Ruskin, the English art critic.
Artists mostly worked in nature during the long months of summer and in fall, and often groups of painters organised sketching excursions, discovering step by step the mountains, forests, rural areas, all the beautiful places of America. They tried to capture the direct observations of nature on several types of media, and it wasn't a rare thing for them to endure with courage the hardships of the trips. Mostly, they made sketches on the spot, which were later used for more ambitious and pretentious compositions in the studios. The idea and compositions proved to be very popular, as the American art lovers were drawn to these works, which found their way into several collections.
The curators of the exhibition have selected around 30 sketchbooks, drawings, watercolors and even oil paintings from the museum's own collection, produced by important American artists of the 19th century, such as Sanford Gifford and Jervis McEntee (of the Hudson River School), William Trost Richards, John William Hill, Homer Dodge Martin and Worthington Whittredge (influnced by the Barbizon School in France). Due to the richness and diversity of the Brooklyn Museum's collections, some finished compositions are presented next to the preliminary sketch, offering thus a chance of understanding how the artist worked. It it one of the best presentations of American 19th century landscape painting, due to the variety of styles, techniques and the importance of the artists.
2007-07-17
