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Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications Sheldon Museum of Art

1991

The Eternal Horizon: Landscapes from the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery

Daphne A. Deeds Curator at Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska- Lincoln

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Deeds, Daphne A., "The Eternal Horizon: Landscapes from the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery" (1991). Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications. 66. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sheldonpubs/66

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Sheldon Museum of Art at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. THE ETERNAL HORIZON Landscapes from the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery THE ETERNAL HORIZON George Henry Bogert Arthur B. Davies 1864-1944 1862-1928 Sunset Moonlight Sonata n.d., oil on canvas c. 1890, oil on board 22 x 30 in. 4 1(2 x 8 5/8 in. UNL-Giftof NAA-Gift Mr. & Mrs. Thomas of JoAnn Kimball C. Woods in memory of 1953.U-131 Curtis Kimball Jr. 1979.N-655

Gary Bowling Lyonel Feininger 1948- 1871-1956 Minnesota Farm, Brooding Sky Puffy Clouds 1946, watercolor 1986, oil on canvas on paper 24 x 31 in. 123/8 x 183/4 in. UNL-OlgaN. UNL-Sheldon Bequest Sheldon CollectioI' 1950.U-l11 1986.U-400l

William Bradford Alan Gussow 1823-1892 1931- Seascape, Terrace in the Sun Cliffs at Sunset n.d., oil on panel n.d., oil on board 95/8 x 13 in. 9 x 14 in. UNL-Olga N. Sheldon Loaned by Collection Carl Rohman 1973.U-3290 1988.L-250-88

Ralston Crawford Marsden Hartley 1906-1978 1877-1943 Easthampton Bridge Altar Boulder, 1940, oil on canvas Dogtown 16 x 22 in. 1931, oil on board UNL-F.M. Hall I 18 x 241/8 in. Collection UNL-Bequest of 1965.H-954 Bertha Schaefer 1971.U-821

Jasper Francis Cropsey 1823-1900 Doune Castle 1848, oil on canvas 14 x 21 in. Childe Hassam NAA-Giftof 1859-1935 Gloucester Harbor Mr. & Mrs. Frank H. Woods, in memory of 1894, oil on canvas Nelia Cochrane Quick 13 3/8 x 25 1/4 in. 1959.N-116 NAA-Thomas C. Woods Memorial Collection 1968.N-193 THE ETERNAL HORIZON: LANDSCAPES FROM THE SHELDON MEMORIAL ART GALLERY

It is significant that the van Ruisdael and his student, landscape painters who worked earliest recorded historical docu­ Meindert Hobbema, provided in Fontainebleau paved the way mentation of landscape, as such, the influence that eventually for the Impressionists of the occurred in the same quarter dominated 19th-century land­ 1870s. And, it was certainly century as the Europeans' discov­ scape painting.3 The Dutch those Impressionists who ery of the New World. In 1494 artists also are credited with changed the concept of not only the German painter and print­ having created the first easel landscape, but all painting for maker, Albrecht DUrer, produced paintings that allowed for small generations to come. In the watercolor landscapes, probably renderings of the landscape to be words of Monet, the impression­ on site, in single sittings. Even shown in private homes. In the ist landscape is "a spontaneous PREFACE though Renaissance character­ mid-17th century, Nicolas work rather than a calculated Since man first gazed into the istics such as new techniques in Poussin, often considered the one," as exemplified by the re­ distance, landscape has defined the handling of light, atmos­ most important French painter of peated attempts by Impressionist us. The vertical human form pheric perspective and space are his century, followed the tradi­ artists to capture the transitional measured against the horizontal present in his work, DUrer's tions of recording ancient, effects of light. Simultaneous earth are the most constant co­ classical concepts. Painters with the Barbizon influence in ordinates by which we secure the watercolor sketches of pure influenced by Poussin favored a France, American painters such human condition. Standing on landscapes did not influence the the earth man surveys the world, art of his time. It was another classic linearity as opposed to the as Homer Dodge Martin were and applies meaning to the German, Albrecht Altdorfer, who subtleties of color. However, recording 'transitional' land­ expanse. "is credited with the first pure Poussin's contemporary, French scapes in the time period The enormous subject of landscapes--both in painting and landscape painter Claude between those of the Hudson landscape can be comprehended in prints. Altdorfer etched a Lorraine, favored the ideal, or River School in the 1820s and on many levels. Landscape can series of nine landscapes pastoral tradition that emphasizes the Impressionists in the mid- be a literal reference to a specific between 1517 and 1520 ... "1 light and atmospheric qualities. 1870s. These painters--Martin place; it can suggest an ideallo­ Altdorfer's singUlar point of Known as 'Claudian,' this and his French Barbizon counter­ cation, offering an alternative to approach influenced the pictur­ parts--related a "sensitivity to aflawed world. Landscape perspective both in his paintings esque beauty of the painters of atmosphere (that) identifies an refers to historical or mytholog­ and this series of etchings places icallocales, or it can transcend the horizon uncharacteristically the 17th through the 19th cent­ essentially Modernist point of the particular to become a meta­ low. It was during this time, and uries, especially the English view, an openness to sensory phor for human aspirations and by these members of the Danube painters Joseph William Mallord suggestion, a willingness to let fears. School in southwestern Turner and Richard Wilson. the brush define on its own terms In our daily lives, the curva­ Germany, that landscape painting John Constable, the English the character of the experience."5 ture of the earth and our accom­ was first treated as an indepen­ landscape painter of the late 18th In America, landscapes by modating vision conspire to dent genre. However, not until and early 19th centuries, is Thomas Cole in 1825 signaled a render the horizon immutable. the early years of the 19th known to have copied the works time for artists "suddenly able to But in spite of its familiarity and of Claude Lorraine. Constable see the American land as an seeming permanence, landscape century did America claim the is in many ways illusory. The landscape tradition. rebelled against the painting independent subject matter offer­ horizon, like the transitory nature Webster defmes landscape styles of his time and concen­ ing a wide variety of natural of life itself, is a temporary cond­ painting as a "picture represent­ trated on the constantly changing forms."6 Cole, Albert Bierstadt, ition, created by the union of ing a section of natural, inland effects of light and atmospheric Thomas Doughty, and Frederick light and our perceptions of the scenery, as of prairie, woodland, conditions. His influence is seen Edwin Church all traveled with global earth. But our trust in mountains, etc." Taken quite in the idealized works of the surveying expeditions, or traders, that meeting of land and sky is literally, then, it is no surprise Barbizon School in France-­ painting romantic, grandiose only as real as our beliefs. that until the 1800s most land­ where the landscape is an 'un­ interpretations of the natural en­ In the twentieth century, land­ scapes were merely scenes that adorned' subject. Also working vironment so new and wondrous scape can assume both represent­ in the mid-19th century was the to them. Those painters, who ational and abstract forms, and served as background for sub­ thus we can discover a full range jects of an historical nature. For realistic painter, Gustave became known as members of of emotional and intellectual example, historian Kenneth Courbet, whose subjects included the Hudson River School, re­ concepts in the traditional genre. Clark states that " ... the moun­ the landscape. Courbet's visual sponded to the 'call of the land' These twenty landscapes traverse tains of Gothic landscape remain attitude, controversial for the as a new generation of artists the history ofAmerican art unreal (because) medieval man time, was to paint realistically who recorded the entire devel­ history, offering the viewer a did not explore them." Clark what one saw, and thus was opment of the frontier. Cole's synopsis of this most favorite and also informs us that the "land­ consistent with Constable's work personifies the prevailing lasting theme. From these scape of fact," or the landscape philosophy, stated in the phrase, attitude in that American artists' visions we can return to of 17th century Holland "directly "I never saw an ugly thing in my moment when the role of the the local vista with renewed ap­ life! "4 Courbet's vision of nature human was 'sublime' to the preciation for the eternal verities influenced, or even created awesomeness of the natural land­ nature reveals to the observant. nineteenth -century vision ... "2 was different--less idealized-­ The straightforward, naturalistic than that of the Barbizon paint­ scape by which it was surround­ approach by the 17th century ers, and that vision was a major ed. And, additionally, that vast Daphne Anderson Deeds Dutch artists who concentrated factor in changing the course of awesomeness "reminded one of Curator/Assistant Director on the peace and quiet of the art. the power of God. "7 Dutch countryside, such as Jacob Courbet and the Barbizon Jasper Francis Cropsey, Keith Jacobshagen Charles Rain 1941- 1911-1985 Towards Bennet Imperial Dusk 1990, monotype,color 1966, oil on panel 193/4 x 15 5/8 in. 15 x 24 in. UNL-Mercedes A. UNL-Bequest of Augustine Fund the artist 1990.U-4263 1985.U-3811

Sam Richardson 1934- Lake in the Mountains is Frozen after the Snow 1968, fiberglass, plastic, lacquer Jean Jones 12 x 13 x 13 in. 1905- NAA-Giftof Corn Mr. & Mrs. Louis Sosland 1959, oil on masonite 1968.N-346 57/8 x 8 7/8 in. UNL-Howard S. Wilson Memorial Collection 1982.U-3117

Kay Sage 1898-1963 This is Another Day 1949, oil on canvas 24 x 20 in. Victor Landweber UNL-Gift of 1943- the artist's estate Light Smog, 1963.U-474 Downtown Los Angeles 1984, ektacolor plus 20x16in. UNL-OlgaN. Sheldon Acquisition Trust 1987.U-3957

Wayne Thiebaud 1920- Silver Landscape 1971, serigraph, 3 color 21 5/8 x 21 in. UNL-F.M. Hall Robert Morris Collection 1931- 1972.H-2795 Earth Projects, Hedges & Gravel 1969, lithograph 197/8 x 27 7/8 in. UNL-F.M. Hall Collection 1989.H-2888.9 Guy Wiggins 1883-1962 Early April (Spring Woods) n.d., oil on canvas 20 x 24 in. UNL-Bequest of ON THE COVER Mr. & Mrs. F.M. Hall 1928.H-96 John Spence 1943- West ofDenton, Seward County, NE, April 10, 1988 1988, cibachrome 20 x 24 3/4 in. UNL-F.M. Hall Collection 1989.H-2899 represented in the current exhibi­ suggests, each of the small pieces Feininger's 1940s watercolor viewer--as that significant tion, was a second generation in it describes "the mystical mer­ rendering of one of his favorite moment when, as in escape from member of the Hudson River ging of his desire for affection subjects, the sea, illustrates the the confines of urban existence, School. Cropsey is unusual in with his feeling about the natural influence of his European intro­ one has a special, private, that he is the only artist of that landscape," in Davies' own inim­ duction to Cubism. A moment inexplicable experience with school known to have painted itable, impressionistic style.ll with the concepts of Surrealism nature. The exhibition is of primarily autumnal scenes. Any explication of landscape is captured in the 1949 work by particular relevance within the Doune Castle, a rendering of painting would be incomplete Kay Sage in which architectural context of the profound relation­ what is "considered one of the without reference to the 'father of structures are presented in an ship with the land that is an grandest relics of Scottish baron­ modernism,' the French painter, imaginary, dreamlike manner inherent consideration of every ial architecture, and the site Paul Cezanne. Cezanne's characteristic of the fantastic-­ native Nebraskan's perspective. where the hero of Sir Walter struggle--especially as it related mixing the real with the unreal. That eternal horizon--the land­ Scott's novel Waverly was to his perception of the landscape An unusual work included in scape--continues to be, as it has confined by the Highlanders,"8 in the late 1870s--was to bring the exhibition of landscapes, a been for centuries past, a major was painted during a trip to together reality and abstraction genre often reserved for painting, source of inspiration in this Europe, shortly after the artist's through the use of pure colors, is the 1968 sculpture by Sam century, and undoubtedly will be marriage in 1847, when he was superimposed side by side, in Richardson. This work is not for artists into the distant future. only 25 years of age. The warm, what Kenneth Clark terms a only an artist's conception of the earth colors used in the painting "return to order." Whether it be landscape, but the complete Karen O. Janovy are in keeping with the religious landscape, still life or portraiture, three-dimensionality of it is to be Education Coordinator nature of his personal exper­ Cezanne's influence on 20th-cen­ examined as a cross-section of iences, and indicate his affinity tury art was profound. the land. References: 1. Jean Fenton, Impressions ofLandscape, with the fall as a time when the With the beginning of the While California painter University of California Santa Barbara, "foliage is all aglow with color 20th century, we see a shift from Wayne Thiebaud's work appears 1969 and the atmosphere is mellow, the 19th century truism of nature realistic· to the casual eye, the 2,3,4. Kenneth C1arl<, Lemdscape Inlo Art (New YOlk: Halper & Row), 1976, p. 59, and tender, and refreshing. "9 The as dogma, when the landscape serigraph exhibited illustrates an p.l64 work also clearly reveals his was the dominating motive in art, affmity with other landscape 5 & 7. The America1l Pai1lti1lg Collecti01l architectural training. to a diversity of movements and painters--Bierstadt in particular-­ of tM Sheldo1l Memorial Art Gallery. Executing landscapes, and styles. Additionally, the changes whose landscapes are composed Compiled and Edited by Nonnan A. Geske and Karen O. Janovy (lincoln: University cityscapes, in the Impressionist brought about by technology and of scenes from his memory, and of Nebraska Press), 1989, p. 124, p. 28 tradition was Guy Wiggins. His urbanization, and an erosion of suggest a sense of the viewer 6,9,10,11. Alan Gussow, A Sense of Early April is undated, but char­ the natural environment because having been there before. Place, The Artist and the America1l Land (New Yorl<: Saturday Review Press),n.d., acteristically depicts a favorite of the domestication of the land, That same feeling of famil­ p. 28, p. 43, p. 130 subject, and in his favorite made an impact on each personal iarity with the landscape is 8. A1I Unprejudiced Eye: The Drawi1lgs location--Lyme, Connecticut. interpretation of 'the landscape.' evident in the monotype by the of Jasper F. Cropsey, The Hudson River The work undoubtedly was Altar Boulder, Dogtown of Nebraska painter Keith Museum, 1979,p. 20 painted during the time period 1931 by Marsden Hartley charac­ Jacobshagen. While Thiebaud's 12. ArtToday/WINTER, 1987-88, n.p. after the European Impression­ terizes that artist's sense of nature work has about it an air of ists, but before the true tenets of as untamed, rough and blunt. A expectant energy resulting from Modernism were understood in leading modernist, and a member his urban perspective, America. True to the style of the of the Stieglitz Circle, Hartley's Jacobshagen "feels an excitement American Impressionists, body of work has been represen­ in the idea that the artist, in Wiggins' painting reflects his ted in each of the three previous painting a scene of farmland, is personal response to this art touring exhibitions from the essentially doing the same thing movement. Sheldon Gallery, and clearly de­ that the farmer is doing--he's Arthur B. Davies' Moonliglu monstrates the various extreme 'inventing' the land himself."12 Sonata, c. 1890, is from a series stylistic changes experienced by The inclusion of photographic of eight small works he painted the artist. The broad brush works in this survey of The in a notebook to illustrate strokes of this work and the re­ Eternal Horizon speaks to the Beethoven's composition of the curring use of large, linear areas acceptance of this fairly recent same title. During that year he of black, combined with the form of artistic expression. The traveled up the Hudson River to a starkly contrasting white of the most contemporary of the photo­ small town near his birthplace, subject matter completely filling graphs in the exhibition is West Utica, New York. There, he the space, defmes the new ofDenton, Seward County, a wrote to his fiance, he "witnessed concepts taking place in the cibachrome photograph by an effect of moonlight, in which American landscapes of the Nebraskan John Spence. Though the color of objects could be 1930s. formal in nature, and represent­ distinctly seen. I watched it from Personal interpretation is fur­ ationally realistic, Spence's work a hammock until I fell asleep and ther evident in the geometric is highly charged with what can then woke up again and got abstraction of 1940 by Ralston be termed a 'personal visualiz­ saturated with the dream... The Crawford. It addresses the ation.' moonrise was one of those artist's perception of the land­ Collectively, these interpret­ cheese like colors in a lavender scape through the use of pure ations of the landscape present a sky, with very warm color in form and color in the new summary of the 'horizon'--etemal ground."to As the series title modernist tradition. Lyonel in the mind and eye of the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS