Asher Brown Durand (August 21, 1796 – September 17, 1886) was an American painter of the Hudson River School. Events 1192 - Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the De facto ruler of Japan. Year 1796 ( MDCCXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Events 1176 - The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought 1462 - The Battle of Świecino (or Battle of Żarnowiec Year 1886 ( MDCCCLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by
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Early life
Durand was born in and eventually died in Maplewood, New Jersey (then called Jefferson Village), the eighth of eleven children; his father was a watchmaker and a silversmith. Maplewood is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. He lived in what is now known as the Durand-Hedden house, which is now designated as a historic landmark.
Durand was apprenticed to an engraver from 1812 to 1817, later entering into a partnership the owner of the firm, who asked him to run the firm's New York branch. He engraved Declaration of Independence for John Trumbull in 1823, which established Durand's reputation as one of the country's finest engravers. John Trumbull ( June 6, 1756 &ndash November 10, 1843) was an American artist during the period of the American Revolutionary Durand helped organize the New York Drawing Association in 1825, which would become the National Academy of Design; he would serve the organization as president from 1845 to 1861. The National Academy of Design, in New York City, now called simply The National Academy is an honorary association of American Artists with a Museum
Painting career
His interest shifted from engraving to oil painting around 1830 with the encouragement of his patron, Luman Reed. In 1837, he accompanied his friend Thomas Cole on a sketching expedition to Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks and soon after he began to concentrate on landscape painting. Thomas Cole ( February 1, 1801 - February 11, 1848) was a 19th century American artist The Adirondack Mountains are a Mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin For the art of designing external spaces see Landscape architecture. He spent summers sketching in the Catskills, Adirondack, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire, making hundreds of drawings and oil sketches that were later incorporated into finished academy pieces which helped to define the Hudson River School. The Catskill Mountains (also known as simply the Catskills) a natural area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany The White Mountains are a Mountain range that covers about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the New Hampshire ( is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by
Durand is particularly remembered for his detailed portrayals of trees, rocks, and foliage. He was an advocate for drawing directly from nature with as much realism as possible. Durand wrote, "Let [the artist] scrupulously accept whatever [nature] presents him until he shall, in a degree, have become intimate with her infinity. . . never let him profane her sacredness by a willful departure from truth. "
Like other Hudson River School artists, Durand also believed that nature was an ineffable manifestation of God. He expressed this sentiment and his general views on art in his "Letters on Landscape Painting" in The Crayon, a mid-19th century New York art periodical. For the art of designing external spaces see Landscape architecture. Wrote Durand, "[T]he true province of Landscape Art is the representation of the work of God in the visible creation. For the art of designing external spaces see Landscape architecture. . . "
Durand is noted for his 1849 painting Kindred Spirits which shows fellow Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole and poet William Cullen Bryant in a Catskills landscape. Year 1849 ( MDCCCXLIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Kindred Spirits (1849 is perhaps the best known painting of Hudson River School painter Asher Durand. Thomas Cole ( February 1, 1801 - February 11, 1848) was a 19th century American artist William Cullen Bryant (November 3 1794 - June 12 1878 was an American romantic poet, journalist and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post. The Catskill Mountains (also known as simply the Catskills) a natural area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany For the art of designing external spaces see Landscape architecture. This was painted as a tribute to Cole upon his death in 1848. Year 1848 ( MDCCCXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap The painting, donated by Bryant's daughter Julia to the New York Public Library in 1904, was sold by the library through Sotheby's at an auction in May 2005 to Alice Walton for a purported $35 million. The New York Public Library ( NYPL) is one of the leading public libraries of the world and is one of America's most significant Research libraries. Sotheby's ( is the world's second oldest Auction house in continuous operation (the oldest being Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674 Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Alice Louise Walton (born October 7, 1949 in Newport Arkansas is an American heiress to the Wal-mart fortune The sale was conducted as a sealed, first bid auction, so the actual sales price is not known. "Auctioneer" redirects here For the DC Comics supervillain see Auctioneer (comics. At $35 million, however, it would be a record price paid for an American painting at the time.
In 2007, the Brooklyn Museum exhibited nearly sixty of Durand's works in the first monographic exhibition devoted to the painter in more than thirty-five years. The Brooklyn Museum, located at 200 Eastern Parkway, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, is the second-largest Art museum in The show, entitled "Kindred Spirits: Asher B. Durand and the American Landscape," was on view from March 30 to July 29, 2007.
References
- Howat, John K. et al. American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School, The Metropolitan Museum of Art: New York, 1987.
- Rosenbaum, Lee. "At the New York Public Library, It's Sell First, Raise Money Later," The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, November 1, 2005.
- "An Old-Time Artist Dead," in The New York Times, September 20, 1886 [1]
External links
- Smithsonian Institute, Asher B. Durand's "Kindred Spirits"
- White Mountain paintings by Asher Brown Durand
- Biography of Asher Brown Durand on White Mountain Art & Artists
- Artcyclopedia: Paintings in Museums and Public Art Galleries
- Art Archive - Asher Brown Durand
- New York Historical Society - Lee A. Vedder, Luce Curatorial Fellow in American Art
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