Touring the Landscape explores how American artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries shaped national identity through landscape paintings of iconic tourist destinations. As a burgeoning tourist industry grew, artists traveled widely, shaping a corpus of iconic views that helped define what it meant to be American.
From the marshes of Florida to the pastoral hills of New England, from the dramatic peaks of the American West to the scenic landscapes of Italy, the paintings in this exhibition reflect an evolving relationship between people and place. In a time of expansion, conflict, and industrialization, they reveal how a shared visual experience of landscape became central to the American imagination and the broader project of nationhood.
This exhibition, assembled from the Cummer Museum’s permanent collection, is guest curated by University of North Florida students in Dr. Meg McCrummen Fowler’s class, “Public Narratives: Museum Curation and Interpretation.”
Image Credit:
Albert Bierstadt (American 1830 – 1902), Estes Park, Colorado, c. 1876 – 1877, oil on paper mounted on canvas, 13 7/8 x 18 7/8 in., Acquired in memory of Thomas H. Jacobsen through generous contributions from family, friends and museum patrons, AP.2006.3.1
Edmund William Greacen (American, 1877 – 1949), Brooklyn Bridge, East River, 1916, oil on canvas, 37 x 37 ½ in., Gift of Mr. and Mrs. René Faure, daughter of Edmond Greacen, AG.1972.2.1