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A Reminiscence of the Catskill Clove

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A Reminiscence of the Catskill Clove

1858
oil on canvas
40 1/4 in. x 32 5/8 in. (102.24 cm x 82.87 cm)
Gift of Henry Melville Fuller, 1988.26

Asher Brown Durand
American
1796–1886

Although Asher Durand's reputation was based on the straightforward, meticulous naturalism of his images, many of them were in fact frankly nostalgic and spiritual, conjuring up thoughts of simpler, more innocent times for his urban industrialist patrons. In its combination of botanically accurate detail and reverent atmosphere, A Reminiscence of the Catskill Clove is characteristic of Durand's landscapes of the late 1840s and 1850s. The moss-covered, rotting log in the picture's foreground is painted with precision, as are the trunks of the sycamores at left, and the granite boulders in the middle distance. Yet Durand did not simply record nature as he found it; he presented a carefully arranged view. The forest interior is shown as a vaulted space, with majestic trees arching over a tranquil stream, leading the eye to a tiny waterfall in the middle distance. The light is golden and melancholy, the atmosphere is hushed, and there is no indication of human presence. The untouched wilderness, a favorite subject of many nineteenth-century American landscape painters, is interpreted here as a natural cathedral, a place of spiritual purity and veneration.

The painting was made in Durand's New York studio following a visit to the Catskill Mountains in August 1858. It was exhibited the following May at the National Academy of Design, of which Durand, a founding member, had served as president since 1845. His subject, the Catskill Clove, an immense gorge in the heart of the mountains, and the gateway to some of the most spectacular scenery in the region, had long been favored by Hudson River school painters. Durand himself had painted the Clove several times; as early as 1848, he described it as "(rich in) beautiful wildness, beyond all we have met heretofore…" The Clove had also been rendered by Thomas Cole (q.v.) and Jasper Cropsey (q.v.), among others. But whereas Cole interpreted the scene dramatically, showing a vista animated by bold contrasts of light and shadow, and Cropsey won acclaim for broad, panoramic views, Durand's vision was intimate and meditative. The composition of A Reminiscence of the Catskill Clove is similar to Durand's earlier successes, such as In the Woods (1855, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), many of which had been commissioned by prominent patrons of the arts. This painting, relatively modest in size, seems to have been completed on speculation, and its history following the National Academy exhibition is unknown. The continuing popularity of Durand's vision, however, was confirmed when, the following year, the celebrated Baltimore collector William T. Walters ordered from the painter a large variant of this composition (In the Catskills, 1859, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore).

CT


REFERENCES

John K. Howat et al. American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School. Ex. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. Pp. 103-18

The Asher B. Durand quotation is contained in a letter to John Durand, dated 24 September 1848, reprinted in Kenneth Myers, The Catskills: Painters, Writers, and Tourists in the Mountains, 1820-1895. Ex. cat. Hudson River Museum of Westchester, Yonkers, NY, 1987, p. 70.


Exhibition
1859 National Academy of Design, New York, NY, no. 762.

1962 Zabriskie Gallery, New York, NY, "Hudson River School Artists." Oct. 15 - Nov. 10.

1963 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, "American Paintings of the 19th Century." Jan. 13 - Feb. 24.

1965 North Conway Library Assocation, North Conway, NH, "A Century of Art in the White Mountains." July 11 - 17, cat. p. 18, ill.

1966 Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, FL, "Mid-19th Century American Painting from the Collections of Henry M. Fuller and William H. Gerdts." July - Aug., cat. no. 18, ill.

1971 "19th Century American Painting from the Collection of Henry Melville Fuller." Traveled to: Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, Sept. 18 - Oct 17; Mead Art Building, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, Oct. 27 - Nov. 24, cat. no. 24.

1980 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, "New Hampshire Collects Painting and Sculpture." Oct. 19 - Nov. 30.

1987 Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, "Dartmouth Alumni and Friends Collect." Sept. 12 - Nov. 1.

1993 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, "Celebrate America! Three Centuries of American Art from the Currier." June 19 - Aug. 29.

1995-1997 "American Art from the Currier Gallery of Art." Organized by the Currier Gallery of Art and the American Federation of Arts. Traveled to: Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL, Dec. 3, 1995 - Jan. 28, 1996; Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, Mar. 15 - Apr. 7, 1996; Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, VA, Aug. 10 - Oct. 13, 1996; The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN, Feb. 2 - Mar. 30, 1997; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, Apr. 25 - June 22, 1997; Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, July 18 - Sept. 8, 1997, cat. no. 14.

2002 Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH, "19th Century American Paintings: The Henry Melville Fuller Collection." Feb. 2 - March 11.

2006-2007 Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, Extended Loan of European and American Paintings. Aug. 2006 - Nov. 2007.

Provenance
Zabriskie Gallery, New York, NY
Purchased by Henry Melville Fuller, November 15, 1961
Gift to Currier Gallery of Art, 1988


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