Asher B. Durand landscapes at the San Diego Museum of Art

Monday, 24 March 2008 21:51

SAN DIEGO, CA - The San Diego Museum of Art invites visitors to view some exciting new exhibitions featuring significant regional, national, and international art. Running through April 27, 2008, Kindred Spirits: Asher B. Durand and the American Landscape surveys over 50 paintings and engravings from famed American landscape painter Asher B. Durand. One of the founders of the Hudson River School , Durand created works that are some of the most beautiful and famous American landscape paintings of the 19th century.
 
“Durand is a key figure in the development of our nation’s art history,” says Derrick R. Cartwright, SDMA’s executive director. “He belonged to a generation of artists who felt a special kinship to landscape. This comes across in the work that gives the exhibition its title—Kindred Spirits—and the entire body of work expresses quintessential ideals about environment, national character, and the wonders of untamed nature.”
 
Asher B. Durand (1796–1886) was a leader in the New York art world of his time, and was especially credited for his role as a proponent of the so-called Hudson River School, a mid-19th-century American art movement that produced idyllic depictions of both bits of nature and grand landscape views. After working as an engraver for nearly a decade, Durand turned to painting portraits in the early 1830s. In 1837, he embarked on a trip to the Adirondacks with his close friend and mentor Thomas Cole. Following this journey, Durand began to focus on landscape painting exclusively and brought a descriptively precise, yet poetic vision to his views of the American countryside.

In conjunction with Kindred Spirits, SDMA has organized a beautiful display of over 20 California plein-air paintings together with the Lux Art Institute. Plein Air Past and Present: A Collaboration Between SDMA and the Lux Art Institute will run concurrently with Kindred Spirits and includes key works from SDMA’s collection, as well as loans from important local collectors.


Museum Information
San Diego Museum of Art - 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park - San Diego, CA 921122107 - General Information: (619) 232-7931 - Web site: www.sdmart.org

The historic San Diego Museum of Art provides a rich and diverse cultural experience for more than 400,000 annual visitors. Located in the heart of beautiful Balboa Park, the Museum's nationally renowned collections include Spanish and Italian old masters, South Asian paintings, and 19th- and 20th-century American paintings and sculptures. In addition, the Museum regularly features major exhibitions of art from around the world, as well as an extensive year-round schedule of supporting cultural and educational programs.