Asher B. Durand (1796-1886), Dean of American Landscape July 5, 2007 - January 6, 2008

Presented with major support from Lawrence A. and Janet Y. Larose This summer, the National Academy Museum will join two other distinguished New York art institutions—the Brooklyn Museum and the New-York Historical Society—in honoring the accomplishments of pioneering American landscape painter Asher B. Durand, N.A. (1796–1886). This exhibition will explore Durand’s leadership as a founding member of the historic National Academy of Design in 1826 as well as its President for sixteen years (1845–1861) and his impact on American art. Asher B. Durand (1796–1886), Dean of American Landscape will consist of twenty works, including paintings, prints, sculpture, and manuscripts drawn from the Academy’s permanent collection. In addition, several loans will document the widespread emulation of Durand’s work by other key artists including Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860) and Thomas Hotchkiss (1834–1869). A section of this exhibition will be devoted to the dissemination of Durand’s principles of art through reproductive engravings and the publication of his writings. This exhibition is accompanied by nine major American landscapes, most of which have never before been seen in New York. Works included by artists such as Frederic Edwin Church, NA (1826–1900), Albert Bierstadt, NA, (1830–1902), Thomas Moran, NA (1837–1926), George Inness, NA (1825–1894), and Ralph Albert Blakelock, NA (1847–1919), on loan from the Berkshire Museum in Massachusetts, will offer perspective on Durand’s legacy. The National Academy’s presentation will feature Durand’s landmark Morning of Life and Evening of Life (both 1840), monumental canvases that embody the height of the Hudson River School’s allegorical mode and mark the artist’s maturity as a landscape painter. The exhibition will shed light not only on the height and range of Durand’s own artistic practice as an engraver, portraitist, and landscapist, but also on the range of his influence through his writing, teaching, and guidance of the National Academy. An inspiration to colleagues, students of art, and patrons alike, Durand directed the National Academy’s early expansion as it led the way toward the professionalization of American artistic practice during the 1840s and 1850s. Championing the needs and interests of his peers, Durand established the Academy’s place as the nation’s primary center for the appreciation, display, advocacy, and study of American art. The publication of his series of instructional “Letters on Landscape Painting” in the art journal The Crayon in 1855 solidified Durand’s reputation as the “Dean” of Hudson River School painting following the death of Thomas Cole in 1848. This exhibition is presented in conjunction with Kindred Spirits: Asher B. Durand and the American Landscape, a retrospective of Durand's works organized by Dr. Ferber as guest curator on view at the Brooklyn Museum from March 30 through July 29, 2007. In addition, The World of Asher B. Durand: The Artist in Antebellum New York will be on view at the New York Historical Society, April 13, 2007 - September 30, 2007, and Asher B. Durand: Intimate Observations will be on view at Cedar Grove: The Thomas Cole National Site from May 20 through October 28, 2007.

Asher Brown Durand The Morning of Life, 1840 oil on canvas, 49 5/8 x 84 1/8 in. National Academy Museum, New York Gift of Mrs. Frederick J. Betts, 1911 (388-P) Asher B. Durand, after John Vanderlyn (1775–1852) Ariadne, 1835 Engraving, 26 1/2 x 34 5/8 inches National Academy Museum, Gift of Mary Danforth Dodge and Elizabeth Dodge in memory of their grandfather, M. I. Danforth (1986.196) Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902) Giant Redwood Trees of California, ca. 1874 Oil on canvas, 52 x 42 ¼ inches Gift of Zenas Crane, Collection of Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts Thomas Hill (1829–1908) Yosemite Valley, 1890 Oil on canvas, 55 x 38 inches Gift of Zenas Crane, Collection of Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts