American Pastorale: Drawings by John F. Kensett

Palmer Museum of Art

Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA

814-865-7672

http://www.psu.edu/dept/palmermuseum/

American Pastorale: Drawings by John F. Kensett

September 18 - December 21, 2001

John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872) was one of the leading figures of the Hudson River School, the renowned group of artists who celebrated the nineteenth-century American landscape. Kensett compiled hundreds of pencil sketches while touring the North American continent during the warmer months of the year. These drawings then served as source material for the paintings he created during the winter in his studio. A selection of Kensett's costumed figure studies, rendered in pencil and watercolor, will complement the exhibit's display of the artist's better-known American landscape sketches. Kensett produced numerous figurative drawings during his years spent overseas, as consideration of the human form was an intrinsic element of the revered European artistic tradition. (left: Tree Study, Franconia Notch, 1850, pencil on buff paper, 13 1/2 x 9 7/8 inches, by John E Kensett (American, 1816-1872). Gift of Michael St. Clair. Collection of the Palmer Museum of Art.)

Many of the works for the exhibition have been selected from the portfolio of Kensett drawings that the Palmer Museum of Art received as a gift from Michael St. Clair in 1998. Additional drawings have been lent by a private collector.

Following is didactic information for the exhibition American Pastorale: Drawings by John F. Kensett written by Julia Dolan, Graduate Assistant, the Palmer Museum of Art, on John Frederick Kensett.

Landscape painter John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872) is to this day renowned for his graceful interpretations of the nineteenth-century American wilderness. Trained in Europe and influenced by the works of French painter Claude Lorrain (1600-1682) and British artist John Constable (1776-1837), Kensett was also inspired by American contributions to the landscape genre found in the works of such artists as Thomas Cole (1801-1848). Upon his return to the United States, Kensett quickly became associated with the Hudson River School of painting. While he was respectful of and influenced by the artistic tenets of the Hudson River painters, Kensett's mature work enhanced his predecessors' vision of the countryside. Turning to luminism, a later manifestation of the Hudson River ideal, Kensett chose to paint more than the unique grandeur of the American landscape by striving to capture the ethereal qualities of light and fleeting subtleties of atmosphere.

Born in Cheshire, Connecticut, and trained in his youth as an engraver in printing shops owned by his father and uncle, Kensett eventually chose to redirect his talents by focusing on the arts of painting and drawing. He studied in England, France, and Italy from 1840 to 1847, relying heavily on his engraving skills to financially support his new artistic endeavors in Europe. After Kensett's return to the United States, his landscape paintings became an immediate success, and his work served to inspire many artists who endeavored to further develop the fledgling American landscape tradition. Kensett's accomplishments were publicly acknowledged when he was appointed a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1849, as well as when he became a founding trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1870.

From the very beginning of his career, Kensett understood the crucial role that drawing played in the development of the nineteenth-century artist and that solid draftsmanship was a cornerstone of professional artistic practice. "Attend closely to your drawing," Kensett's close friend and fellow artist John Casilear (1811-1893) wrote to him in 1832, "as you know 'tis the very essence of our art." Kensett continued to strive for lyrical perfection in his sketches, as he progressed from talented engraver to gifted artist adept at capturing the spirit of the American landscape.

The majority of the works displayed in this exhibition have been selected from a gift of Kensett drawings given to the Palmer Museum of Art by Michael St. Clair in 1998.

RL readers may also enjoy the online exhibit Images of Contentment: John Frederick Kensett and the Connecticut Shore from the Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT

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rev. 11/9/06

Read more about the Palmer Museum of Art in Resource Library.

For further biographical information please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.

This page was originally published in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information. rev. 6/7/11

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