John Frederick Kensett
View on the Hudson
1864
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John Frederick Kensett
View on the Hudson
1864
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Sight: 27 1/2 x 44 1/2 in. (69.9 x 113 cm) Framed: 42 x 59 x 5 in. (106.7 x 149.9 x 12.7 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Paul H. Miller
Object Number
1942.4
John Frederick Kensett used summer sketches made in New York and New England to create serene canvases like this panoramic view of the Hudson River near West Point. Backed by the Catskills and bathed in lambent atmospheric light, the scene incorporates both unspoiled nature and nascent economic change. We glimpse not only old-fashioned sailing sloops, but also a steamboat towing barges and a puffing train traveling the Hudson River Railroad’s New York-Albany line. A woman reading a book at lower left recalls that images of landscape and ideas of nation were deeply intertwined in painting and literature, helping to shape American identity in the mid-19th century. Snapped up by a Baltimore collector as contemporary art, View on the Hudson was exhibited at the Maryland Historical Society in 1868.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1942; Mrs. Paul H. Miller, Baltimore; Bertha Lee Jenkins Miller, from her mother; Clara Vandervoort Jenkins, from her husband; J. Stricker Jenkins, Baltimore, by 1868
"Seventh Exhibition of The Maryland Historical Society," Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, 1868, p. 6, no. 87 (as "View on the Hudson," lent by J. Stricker Jenkins)
"Art Loan Exhibition," Peabody Institute, Baltimore, 1879, p. 11, no. 170 (as "View on the Hudson," lent by Mrs. J. S. Jenkins)
Frederick A. Sweet, "The Hudson River School and the Early American Landscape Tradition," The Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 15-Mar. 25, 1945, p. 12, no. 128, ill. p. 89; circulated to New York
"American Painting from Colonial Times Until Today," The Saginaw Museum, Michigan, Jan. 10-Feb. 15, 1948, p. 17, no. 33
"The Hudson River School," American Federation of Arts, New York, Dec. 1960-Feb. 1962, no. 24
"19th Century American Topographic Painters," The Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Nov. 21, 1974-Jan. 5, 1975, p. 66, no. 20, ill. p. 86
"John Frederick Kensett," Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, Mar. 26-June 9, 1985; circulated to Los Angeles County Museum of Arts and The Metropolitan Museum of Art through Jan. 19, 1986
"Above the Clouds: Painters, Writers and Tourists in the Catskills, 1820-1895," The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, Feb. 28-June 19, 1988
"The Panoramic River: the Hudson and the Thames," The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, Feb. 2-May 19, 2013.
"Art Loan Exhibition," Peabody Institute, Baltimore, 1879, p. 11, no. 170 (as "View on the Hudson," lent by Mrs. J. S. Jenkins)
Frederick A. Sweet, "The Hudson River School and the Early American Landscape Tradition," The Art Institute of Chicago, Feb. 15-Mar. 25, 1945, p. 12, no. 128, ill. p. 89; circulated to New York
"American Painting from Colonial Times Until Today," The Saginaw Museum, Michigan, Jan. 10-Feb. 15, 1948, p. 17, no. 33
"The Hudson River School," American Federation of Arts, New York, Dec. 1960-Feb. 1962, no. 24
"19th Century American Topographic Painters," The Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Nov. 21, 1974-Jan. 5, 1975, p. 66, no. 20, ill. p. 86
"John Frederick Kensett," Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, Mar. 26-June 9, 1985; circulated to Los Angeles County Museum of Arts and The Metropolitan Museum of Art through Jan. 19, 1986
"Above the Clouds: Painters, Writers and Tourists in the Catskills, 1820-1895," The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, Feb. 28-June 19, 1988
"The Panoramic River: the Hudson and the Thames," The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, Feb. 2-May 19, 2013.
"A Picture Book," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1955, ill. p. 44
'The Frontier Fallacy,' "BMA News," June 1958, ill. p. 8
Howard S. Merritt, 'American Landscape Paintings in the Museum Collection,' "BMA News," Winter 1962, p. 15, ill. p. 14
Kent Roberts Greenfield, 'Annual 1,' "BMA News," 1966, ill. p. 98
John K. Howat, "The Hudson River and ITs Painters," New York: The Viking Press, 1972, p. 145, no. 27, ill. pl. 27
Sona K. Johnston, "American Paintings 1750-1900 from the Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1983, no. 80, pp. 98-100, ill.
Baltimore Museum of Art. The American Wing. Brochure. Baltimore, MD: Baltimore Museum of Art, [198-?], unpaged.
William M. S. Rasmussen, 'A Journey into the American Paradise: John Frederick Kensett's "Evening on the Hudson,"' "Arts in Virginia," (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond), Vol. 28, no. 1, 1988, ill. p. 12
Louise Minks, "The Hudson River School," New York: Crescent Books, 1989, p. 69, ill.
Angela L. Miller, "The Empire of the Eye: Landscape Representations and American Cultural Politics," Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993, fig. 52, p. 245
"Brice Maden Retrospektive," NY: The Museum of Modern Art, 2007, no. 1, p. 77.
Frances F. Dunwell, "The Hudson: America's River," New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Incorrectly published as "The Hudson River."
Rochelle L. Johnson, "Passions for Nature," Athens & London: The University of Georgia Press, 2009 (cover illus.)
Evelyn D. Trebilcock and Valerie A. Balint, "Glories of the Hudson, Frederic Edwin Church's Views from Olana," Hudson, NY: The Olana Partnership, 2009, fig. 6, p. 21.
Bland, Bartholmew F., and Laura L. Vookles. "The Panoramic River: the Hudson and the Thames" Yonkers, NY: The Hudson River Museum, 2013. ill. p. 24, 181.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
Inscribed: Signed and dated, lower left, "JF. K. '65"
On View at the BMA
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