BIOGRAPHY
Born in Jefferson Village, NJ, Asher Durand was apprenticed to the engraver Peter Maverick from 1812–17, established his reputation with his print of John Trumbull's painting Declaration of Independence in 1820, and ran successful businesses until 1831. In the 1830s, Durand abandoned engraving for landscape painting, encouraged by the example and friendship of Thomas Cole, the leader of the Hudson River School. Durand soon visited Europe, where he was influenced by 17th-century Dutch painters, clearly seen in works like The Babbling Brook (1851). Durand, like Cole, tempered naturalism with idealism, and like Cole believed that landscape manifested divinity. However, following Cole's death in 1848, which Durand memorialized in Kindred Spirits (1849), he painted a series of Studies from Nature, en plein air, which realistically recorded both landscape and weather, a typical example being Rocks and Trees (c. 1855), a major development in American landscape painting. As president of the National Academy of Design, Durand was an important figure whose Letters on Landscape Painting (1855) were highly influential.
Born in Jefferson Village, NJ, Asher Durand was apprenticed to the engraver Peter Maverick from 1812–17, established his reputation with his print of John Trumbull's painting Declaration of Independence in 1820, and ran successful businesses until 1831. In the 1830s, Durand abandoned engraving for landscape painting, encouraged by the example and friendship of Thomas Cole, the leader of the Hudson River School. Durand soon visited Europe, where he was influenced by 17th-century Dutch painters, clearly seen in works like The Babbling Brook (1851). Durand, like Cole, tempered naturalism with idealism, and like Cole believed that landscape manifested divinity. However, following Cole's death in 1848, which Durand memorialized in Kindred Spirits (1849), he painted a series of Studies from Nature, en plein air, which realistically recorded both landscape and weather, a typical example being Rocks and Trees (c. 1855), a major development in American landscape painting. As president of the National Academy of Design, Durand was an important figure whose Letters on Landscape Painting (1855) were highly influential.
REFERENCES
Biography adapted from Rodgers, David. "Durand, Asher Brown." The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e788>.
Artwork behind title: Asher Durand's Kindred Spirits (detail), Crystal Bridges Museum
Biography adapted from Rodgers, David. "Durand, Asher Brown." The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. <http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e788>.
Artwork behind title: Asher Durand's Kindred Spirits (detail), Crystal Bridges Museum
