This daguerreotype by an unknown photographer, circa 1854, captures Durand's intensity, alertness and keen eye at the height of his powers. New-York Historical Society Library (not in exhibition).
:An influential figure in American art from his early work as the country's best engraver through his leadership of the Hudson River School of painting until his death at age 90, Asher B. Durand (1796–1886) was both an intellectual and visual force. The acknowledged dean of American landscapists, his poetic forest interiors and sweeping pastoral scenes and his work as president of the National Academy of Design helped set the tone for works that celebrated the relationship of Americans to nature and the wilderness.
Setting American views of the natural world apart from European traditions, Durand defined an American sensibility to the land and evolved a vertical format for depicting it. His influence hastened the decline of history painting in the mid-Nineteenth Century and the ascendancy of landscape paintings as serious works of art.
In spite of all the achievements of this urbane and technically gifted painter, his artwork and his key role in the development of American art have been overlooked in recent years. Fortunately, a full-fledged Durand revival is underway.
A spate of current exhibitions, headed by "Kindred Spirits: Asher B. Durand and the American Landscape," on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) through January 8, should resurrect appreciation for his oeuvre and achievements. Organized for the Brooklyn Museum (where it opened) by Linda S. Ferber, now vice president and director of the museum division of the New-York Historical Society, this first Durand retrospective in 35 years comprises nearly 60 engravings, portraits and, most importantly, some of the most beautiful and well-known Nineteenth Century American landscape paintings.
In "Dover Plains, Dutchess County, New York,” 1848, curator Linda S. Ferber says Durand "integrated the foreground (and figures)…effectively into an expansive aerial view grounded in actual topography and climate….” Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM exhibition).
Complementary exhibitions at the National Academy of Design, and Cedar Grove, The Thomas Cole National Historic Site, further illuminate Durand's accomplishments.
A native of New Jersey, Durand started out as an engraver. In 1823, he won such admiration for his engraving after John Trumbull's "The Declaration of Independence" that he was considered America's finest engraver. After a brief period painting portraits of prominent political and social figures, an 1837 sketching sojourn in the Adirondacks with his friend and Hudson River School leader Thomas Cole prompted Durand to focus on landscape art.
After Cole's death in 1848, Durand became the nation's leading landscape painter and head of the Hudson River School. He provided crucial leadership as president of the prestigious National Academy, 1845–1861.
Arguably more important than his paintings was Durand's influence, both as an example of the dedicated artist and as a theorist, on the second generation of the Hudson River School. His nine "Letters on Landscape Painting," printed in the periodical founded by his son John,
The Crayon,
in 1855, codified principles of landscape painting, stressing the use of drawings, study and geology, and the presence of God in nature. Durand revered nature, seeing in it the "visible works of God." His views, highly influential in their day, are significant reflections of mid-Nineteenth Century American attitudes.
