Robert Scott Duncanson
Encyclopedia
Robert Scott Duncanson was born in Seneca County
, New York
in 1821. Duncanson’s father was a Canadian of Scottish descent and his mother was an African American
, thus making him “a freeborn person of color
.” Duncanson, an artist who is relatively unknown today, painted
America, both physically and figuratively, at a time when the country was in turmoil. Beautiful and serene, Duncanson’s work sheds light on American art that has been forgotten over the years.
, Ohio, a village fifteen miles (24 km) north of Cincinnati. It was not until the summer of 1841 that Duncanson left Canada for Mount Pleasant. Upon his return to his mother’s home, Duncanson said, “I’ve come back to be an artist.” Yearning to do more with paint than use it on houses, as he had been doing since 1838 with his house painting and decorating venture, he moved to Cincinnati, which seemed to be the right place. Around this time period, Cincinnati was “known as the Athens of the West.” Although Duncanson possessed the drive and determination to be an artist, he received no technical training. Instead, “determined to break into the exclusively Caucasian
art community [. . . he] taught himself art by painting portraits and copying prints.” Duncanson’s determination paid off with a long career that was active until his death in 1872. During his lifetime Duncanson married twice and had three children, Reuben, Milton, and daughter Bertha. Robert Duncanson’s life and career took him around the globe and back again.
, however this success also came with a dose of reality. No one in Duncanson’s family, not even his mother was allowed to attend the show because of their ethnicity. But keeping everyone’s spirits up his mother said of his paintings, “I know what they look like [. . . ] I know that they are there! That’s the important thing.”
Taking a short break from portrait work, Duncanson collaborated with another artist, photographer Coates. Together, on “March 19, 1844, Coates and Duncanson advertised a spectacle of ‘Chemical Paintings. . . comprising four splendid views after the singular style of Daguerre
.”(p. 18) It is thought that Duncanson was the artistic mind behind the composition of the images while Coates took care of the technical side. Although Duncanson was making progress as an artist personally and publicly, the lack of commissions for his work pushed him to move to Detroit in 1845.
While in Detroit, Duncanson returned to his roots as a portrait painter and was well received by the local press. In 1846, the Detroit Daily Advertiser praised Duncanson for his skill and color usage, adding, “Mr. Duncanson deserves, and we trust will receive the patronage of all lovers of the fine arts.” Portrait commissions in Detroit were forthcoming, but Duncanson was becoming interested in the genre painting
tradition. He was first exposed to the tradition of genre painting through the work of fellow Cincinnati artist James H. Beard.(p. 19) Tired of Detroit and longing to expand his repertoire, Duncanson returned to Cincinnati in 1846.
painter, it also established him within a network of abolitionist patrons who would sustain most of his career.
After the successful work done for Avery, Duncanson dove into the realm of landscape painting. Along with two other Cincinnati artists, Whittredge and Sonntag, Duncanson became inspired by the work of the Hudson River School
artists and aspired to paint the American landscape. Together, the three artists set out on a series of sketching trips around the country to provide them with the necessary material and inspiration to bring back to their Cincinnati studios.(p. 28) After sketching tours scattered about, Duncanson focused on the Ohio River Valley in the early 1850s. With his ambitions cast on landscape work, and feeling the influence of the Hudson River artists, Duncanson strived to transform his topographical works into something more like they had, including “moral messages or literary associations.” To do this he turned to Thomas Cole
, copying many of his works dealing with paradise
and drawing parallels between the imaginary lands painted and America.
Starting in 1854 and continuing "for about four years," Duncanson worked in the photography studio of James Presley Ball
retouching portraits and coloring photographic prints.(pp. 101–103) In addition, Duncanson probably participated in the production of a 600-yard-long abolitionist
panoramic painting
that Ball unveiled in 1855 entitled "Mammoth Pictorial Tour of the United States Comprising Views of the African Slave Trade."(p. 104)
Duncanson exiled himself to Canada and the United Kingdom
. In 1863 he took up residence in Montreal
and would stay for two years. Here he was accepted enthusiastically and was inspirational to Canadian painters such as Otto Reinhold Jacobi
. Canadians loved Duncanson as one of their own and thought of him as one of “the earliest of our professional cultivators of the fine arts.” The Canadian landscape greatly influenced Duncanson, and is evident in many of his works. In 1865 he left Canada for the United Kingdom, particularly England
and Scotland
, to tour one of his most accomplished works, The Land of the Lotus Eaters. In Europe, his work was well received and the prestigious London Art Journal declared him a master of landscape painting. In the winter of 1866–1867 Duncanson returned to Cincinnati. Inspired by his European travels he painted many scenes of the Scottish landscape.
, and his late works continued to show his love of landscape painting and resonated calmness and serenity.(p. 157) Duncanson fell physically and psychologically ill and died in Detroit
, Michigan on December 21, 1872, he was fifty-one years old. With the changing cultural tastes of the time Robert Scott Duncanson’s work fell into obscurity. He was buried at the Woodland Cemetery
in Monroe, Michigan.
. As the first American painter to take up residence in Canada and focus on its landscape, Duncanson’s influence has been felt there as well. At a gallery showing in Harlem
, the New York Amsterdam News
called the works by Duncanson “pioneering.” It is not the genre he chose to paint in that was pioneering, it was the subtle way he infused his paintings with an African American
sensibility without creating what the art world would categorize as African American paintings. Although Duncanson’s son urged him to be more outright African American in his works, Duncanson wrote to his son, “I have no color on the brain; all I have on the brain is paint.” This highlights his laid-back approach to racial tensions that the art world had not seen before. Audiences looking at Duncanson’s work have to look hard, beyond the obvious associations with themes of landscape and idealized lands, to see the commentary on a post Civil War America and a socially aware African American artist. Instead, Richard Powell of American Visions says that Duncanson’s success is a “victory over society’s presumptions of what African American artist should create.” Duncanson’s artwork has become a useful tool in teaching art students about the history of African American artists.
Upon close inspection, the right bank of the river contains two men with a canoe and a fire. Although Duncanson makes them very small, this fits with his trade mark of subtly and functions as a “metaphor for nature as pastoral, picturesque environment receptive to the presence of people.” The light source comes from the natural light of the sun. With the shadows and haziness of the lighting, and the brightest part being the western sky, the landscape seems to be portraying dusk in the mountains. The colors of this work are all soft and natural, giving it a very serene feel.
This great landscape work shows Duncanson’s development as an artist and technical achievement. Landscape, 1870 was created in the last phase of his career after a tour to Europe. European influence is detected in the brushed foliage of the two tall trees on the left, while the rocks and mountains pay tribute to his influences of the Hudson River School and Thomas Cole. Landscape 1870 is part of a landscape trio that Duncanson used to showcase his range and mastery of the landscape genre. This work represents a picturesque view of nature, while Dog’s Head is more rugged, and Vale of Kashmir is a tropical fantasy. Landscape, 1870 is the culmination of his career and is a testament to his accomplishments as an American landscape painter.
. The painting depicts a scene from Chapter 22 of Harriet Beecher Stowe
’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The characters are set in an idyllic landscape of tropical plants and Lake Pontchartrain
in Louisiana
. Eva is standing with her arm extended to the heavens, while Tom is sitting on a mossy rock holding her arm. In the distance are sailboats and birds and in the foreground is Tom’s straw hat. The foreground is defined by the space that the characters occupy, while the middle ground is defined by the repeating bamboo arbors, and the lake and the distant horizon defines the background.
The space in this work feels secluded and intimate. The bamboo arbors create a barrier between the characters and the outside world, the lake also functions in this same way. The seclusion of the space shows the special relationship between Tom and Eva. Although the colors are vibrant and tropical, pinks, yellows, and greens, the light in the painting is dim. The light comes from the setting sun and is brightest in the western sky within the work. The balance of the work is weighted to the right side. It is dense with foliage and the characters, which are central to the work, while the left side is open and expands to the lake symbolizing freedom.
Reverend James Francis Conover commissioned Uncle Tom and Little Eva in 1853 after a viewing of Duncanson’s work at the Fireman’s Hall exhibit in the same year. This work is his only one containing explicit African American subject matter, and it reveals his personal response to slavery
. The theme of salvation from the novel depicted here can be read as both salvation for Eva and the salvation for all slaves. By painting this work, Duncanson announced his stance on slavery and “his hope for a religious basis for resolving the slavery question.”(p. 47)
1843 Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Statuary, Western Art union, Cincinnati, OH
1864 Art Association of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
1865 Art Association of Montreal, Canada Dublin Exhibition, Ireland
1871 Western Art Gallery, Detroit, MI
1943 Balmoral Castle, Scotland, Museum of Modern Art
, NY
1953 Denver Art Museum
, Denver, CO
1955 Cincinnati Art Museum
, Cincinnati, OH
1961 Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indianapolis, IN
1967 Howard University
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
1970 La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA
1971 Bowdoin College
, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brunswick, ME
1972 Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
1972 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
, Boston, MA
1976 Los Angeles County Museum of Art
, Los Angeles, CA
1979 Detroit Institute of Arts
, Detroit, MI
1983 National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
1992 National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
1996 Washington University, St. Louis, MO
1999 To Conserve a Legacy- American Art from History, Black Colleges and Universities," Studio Museum in Harlem
, NY
2003 Then and Now: Selection of 19-20th Century Art by African American Artists, Detroit Institute of Arts
, Detroit, MI
2009 Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
Seneca County, New York
As of the census of 2000, there were 33,342 people, 12,630 households, and 8,626 families residing in the county. The population density was 103 people per square mile . There were 14,794 housing units at an average density of 46 per square mile...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1821. Duncanson’s father was a Canadian of Scottish descent and his mother was an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, thus making him “a freeborn person of color
Person of color
Person of color is a term used, primarily in the United States, to describe all people who are not white. The term is meant to be inclusive among non-white groups, emphasizing common experiences of racism...
.” Duncanson, an artist who is relatively unknown today, painted
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
America, both physically and figuratively, at a time when the country was in turmoil. Beautiful and serene, Duncanson’s work sheds light on American art that has been forgotten over the years.
Background
As a young boy, Duncanson lived with his father in Canada, while his mother lived in Mount PleasantMount Pleasant, Ohio
Mount Pleasant is a village in Jefferson County, Ohio, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 535. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
, Ohio, a village fifteen miles (24 km) north of Cincinnati. It was not until the summer of 1841 that Duncanson left Canada for Mount Pleasant. Upon his return to his mother’s home, Duncanson said, “I’ve come back to be an artist.” Yearning to do more with paint than use it on houses, as he had been doing since 1838 with his house painting and decorating venture, he moved to Cincinnati, which seemed to be the right place. Around this time period, Cincinnati was “known as the Athens of the West.” Although Duncanson possessed the drive and determination to be an artist, he received no technical training. Instead, “determined to break into the exclusively Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
art community [. . . he] taught himself art by painting portraits and copying prints.” Duncanson’s determination paid off with a long career that was active until his death in 1872. During his lifetime Duncanson married twice and had three children, Reuben, Milton, and daughter Bertha. Robert Duncanson’s life and career took him around the globe and back again.
Career
Duncanson’s artistic career had several phases which lead him to travel both the country and the world for the pursuit of his art. Because he was not a formally trained artist, he honed his skills copying prints and painting portraits. In 1842 Duncanson had three portraits ("Fancy Portrait," "Infant Savior, a copy," and "Miser") accepted to the last exhibition hosted by the Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge which had succeeded the Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts.(p. 15) This served as his public debut to the art worldArt world
The art world is composed of all the people involved in the production, commission, preservation, promotion, criticism, and sale of art. Howard S. Becker describes it as "the network of people whose cooperative activity, organized via their joint knowledge of conventional means of doing things,...
, however this success also came with a dose of reality. No one in Duncanson’s family, not even his mother was allowed to attend the show because of their ethnicity. But keeping everyone’s spirits up his mother said of his paintings, “I know what they look like [. . . ] I know that they are there! That’s the important thing.”
Taking a short break from portrait work, Duncanson collaborated with another artist, photographer Coates. Together, on “March 19, 1844, Coates and Duncanson advertised a spectacle of ‘Chemical Paintings. . . comprising four splendid views after the singular style of Daguerre
Louis Daguerre
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre was a French artist and physicist, recognized for his invention of the daguerreotype process of photography.- Biography :...
.”(p. 18) It is thought that Duncanson was the artistic mind behind the composition of the images while Coates took care of the technical side. Although Duncanson was making progress as an artist personally and publicly, the lack of commissions for his work pushed him to move to Detroit in 1845.
While in Detroit, Duncanson returned to his roots as a portrait painter and was well received by the local press. In 1846, the Detroit Daily Advertiser praised Duncanson for his skill and color usage, adding, “Mr. Duncanson deserves, and we trust will receive the patronage of all lovers of the fine arts.” Portrait commissions in Detroit were forthcoming, but Duncanson was becoming interested in the genre painting
Genre painting
Genre works, also called genre scenes or genre views, are pictorial representations in any of various media that represent scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, and street scenes. Such representations may be realistic, imagined, or...
tradition. He was first exposed to the tradition of genre painting through the work of fellow Cincinnati artist James H. Beard.(p. 19) Tired of Detroit and longing to expand his repertoire, Duncanson returned to Cincinnati in 1846.
Success and landscapes
As he moved away from portrait work, the exploration journals of John Stevens and Frederick Catherwood, Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan intrigued Duncanson. The prints in these books prompted Duncanson to experiment with far off places and forgotten civilizations in his work. Back in Cincinnati and full of new inspiration, he received a career-boosting commission from Charles Avery. Avery was an abolitionist Methodist minister who commissioned the work Cliff Mine, Lake Superior in 1848. Not only did this work bolster Duncanson’s career as a landscapeLandscape art
Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...
painter, it also established him within a network of abolitionist patrons who would sustain most of his career.
After the successful work done for Avery, Duncanson dove into the realm of landscape painting. Along with two other Cincinnati artists, Whittredge and Sonntag, Duncanson became inspired by the work of the Hudson River School
Hudson River school
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism...
artists and aspired to paint the American landscape. Together, the three artists set out on a series of sketching trips around the country to provide them with the necessary material and inspiration to bring back to their Cincinnati studios.(p. 28) After sketching tours scattered about, Duncanson focused on the Ohio River Valley in the early 1850s. With his ambitions cast on landscape work, and feeling the influence of the Hudson River artists, Duncanson strived to transform his topographical works into something more like they had, including “moral messages or literary associations.” To do this he turned to Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist. He is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century...
, copying many of his works dealing with paradise
Paradise
Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and...
and drawing parallels between the imaginary lands painted and America.
Belmont Murals and work with James Presley Ball
Ducanson’s success and progress throughout the years caught the eye of one of Cincinnati’s wealthiest citizens. In 1851, Nicholas Longworth commissioned Duncanson to paint murals on the walls of his home, which was called the Belmont. Duncanson created eight murals for the entry of the Belmont, each nine feet high and six and a half feet wide. Although the scale of the job was large, and Duncanson was still up and coming, Longworth trusted him with the decoration of his home because he thought him to be “one of our most promising painters” The mural Duncanson created combined both his and Longworth’s appreciation for landscape and interior design, Duncanson having painted houses years before. The murals were taxing and time consuming, however the patronage of such a prominent Cincinnati citizen did much to further his career.Starting in 1854 and continuing "for about four years," Duncanson worked in the photography studio of James Presley Ball
James Presley Ball
James Presley Ball, Sr. was a prominent African-American photographer, abolitionist, and businessman.-Biography:Ball was born in Frederick County, Virginia to William and Susan Ball in 1825. He learned daguerreotype photography from John B...
retouching portraits and coloring photographic prints.(pp. 101–103) In addition, Duncanson probably participated in the production of a 600-yard-long abolitionist
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
panoramic painting
Panoramic painting
Panoramic paintings are massive artworks that reveal a wide, all-encompassing view of a particular subject, often a landscape, military battle, or historical event. They became especially popular in the 19th Century in Europe and the United States, inciting opposition from writers of Romantic poetry...
that Ball unveiled in 1855 entitled "Mammoth Pictorial Tour of the United States Comprising Views of the African Slave Trade."(p. 104)
Self-imposed exile
With the onset of the Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
Duncanson exiled himself to Canada and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
. In 1863 he took up residence in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and would stay for two years. Here he was accepted enthusiastically and was inspirational to Canadian painters such as Otto Reinhold Jacobi
Otto Reinhold Jacobi
Otto Reinhold Jacobi was a German-Canadian artist.In 1830 Jacobi studied in Berlin at the Royal Academy of Arts. He then studied at the Dusseldorf Art Academy with Johann Wilhelm Schirmer. As a landscape and genre painter, he worked in Nassau and Canada...
. Canadians loved Duncanson as one of their own and thought of him as one of “the earliest of our professional cultivators of the fine arts.” The Canadian landscape greatly influenced Duncanson, and is evident in many of his works. In 1865 he left Canada for the United Kingdom, particularly England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, to tour one of his most accomplished works, The Land of the Lotus Eaters. In Europe, his work was well received and the prestigious London Art Journal declared him a master of landscape painting. In the winter of 1866–1867 Duncanson returned to Cincinnati. Inspired by his European travels he painted many scenes of the Scottish landscape.
Final years
In the final years of his life, Duncanson created some of his greatest works. Throughout his career, his works had always tended toward the pastoralPastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
, and his late works continued to show his love of landscape painting and resonated calmness and serenity.(p. 157) Duncanson fell physically and psychologically ill and died in Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, Michigan on December 21, 1872, he was fifty-one years old. With the changing cultural tastes of the time Robert Scott Duncanson’s work fell into obscurity. He was buried at the Woodland Cemetery
Woodland Cemetery (Monroe, Michigan)
Woodland Cemetery, formerly known as Grove Cemetery and Woodlawn Cemetery, is a public, city-owned cemetery located at 428 Jerome Street in southeast Monroe, Michigan. It occupies 10 acres and contains over 6,500 graves. Founded in 1810, it is one of Michigan’s oldest public cemeteries...
in Monroe, Michigan.
Legacy
Although not very well known by the general public, Robert Scott Duncanson had a significant impact on American artAmerican Art
American Art is the debut album of the band Weatherbox. It was released on May 8, 2007 on Doghouse Records. The album received critical acclaim from several sources including underground music distribution company Smartpunk, who lauded the band's style:...
. As the first American painter to take up residence in Canada and focus on its landscape, Duncanson’s influence has been felt there as well. At a gallery showing in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, the New York Amsterdam News
The New York Amsterdam News
The New York Amsterdam News is a American black nationalist weekly newspaper geared to the African-American community of New York City, New York.It has published columns by notables including W. E. B. Du Bois, Roy Wilkins, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr...
called the works by Duncanson “pioneering.” It is not the genre he chose to paint in that was pioneering, it was the subtle way he infused his paintings with an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
sensibility without creating what the art world would categorize as African American paintings. Although Duncanson’s son urged him to be more outright African American in his works, Duncanson wrote to his son, “I have no color on the brain; all I have on the brain is paint.” This highlights his laid-back approach to racial tensions that the art world had not seen before. Audiences looking at Duncanson’s work have to look hard, beyond the obvious associations with themes of landscape and idealized lands, to see the commentary on a post Civil War America and a socially aware African American artist. Instead, Richard Powell of American Visions says that Duncanson’s success is a “victory over society’s presumptions of what African American artist should create.” Duncanson’s artwork has become a useful tool in teaching art students about the history of African American artists.
Landscape, 1870
Duncanson’s Landscape, 1870 is one in a series of landscape works. The work depicts the vast Canadian landscape with mountains, a winding river, and foliage of the north. The title, Landscape, 1870 does not add much of value to the interpretation of the work, if anything. The work is broken roughly into thirds diagonally. The left hand side of the work contains shrubbery and two tall trees on the bank of the river, the middle contains a wide river with a few mountains in the distance, and the right hand side of the work contains a large cliff like mountain with boulders and shrubbery. No single element of the composition commands viewer attention, instead, the river brings the viewer’s eye back into the composition, yet allows it to wonder from side to side getting the full experience of the composition. Line in this work is subtle and very fluid and the space is very free and vast. The river draws the eye back to the mountains in the distance, thus creating a sense of depth and all elements of the work seems as if they continue beyond the view of the work, creating vastness. This deep space and vast feeling showcases the landscape for what it really is, expansive and free flowing.Upon close inspection, the right bank of the river contains two men with a canoe and a fire. Although Duncanson makes them very small, this fits with his trade mark of subtly and functions as a “metaphor for nature as pastoral, picturesque environment receptive to the presence of people.” The light source comes from the natural light of the sun. With the shadows and haziness of the lighting, and the brightest part being the western sky, the landscape seems to be portraying dusk in the mountains. The colors of this work are all soft and natural, giving it a very serene feel.
This great landscape work shows Duncanson’s development as an artist and technical achievement. Landscape, 1870 was created in the last phase of his career after a tour to Europe. European influence is detected in the brushed foliage of the two tall trees on the left, while the rocks and mountains pay tribute to his influences of the Hudson River School and Thomas Cole. Landscape 1870 is part of a landscape trio that Duncanson used to showcase his range and mastery of the landscape genre. This work represents a picturesque view of nature, while Dog’s Head is more rugged, and Vale of Kashmir is a tropical fantasy. Landscape, 1870 is the culmination of his career and is a testament to his accomplishments as an American landscape painter.
Uncle Tom and Little Eva, 1853
Robert Duncanson’s Uncle Tom and Little Eva, painted in 1853 is housed at the Detroit Institute of ArtsDetroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...
. The painting depicts a scene from Chapter 22 of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom...
’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The characters are set in an idyllic landscape of tropical plants and Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana. It is the second-largest inland saltwater body of water in the United States, after the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the largest lake in Louisiana. As an estuary, Pontchartrain is not a true lake.It covers an area of with...
in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Eva is standing with her arm extended to the heavens, while Tom is sitting on a mossy rock holding her arm. In the distance are sailboats and birds and in the foreground is Tom’s straw hat. The foreground is defined by the space that the characters occupy, while the middle ground is defined by the repeating bamboo arbors, and the lake and the distant horizon defines the background.
The space in this work feels secluded and intimate. The bamboo arbors create a barrier between the characters and the outside world, the lake also functions in this same way. The seclusion of the space shows the special relationship between Tom and Eva. Although the colors are vibrant and tropical, pinks, yellows, and greens, the light in the painting is dim. The light comes from the setting sun and is brightest in the western sky within the work. The balance of the work is weighted to the right side. It is dense with foliage and the characters, which are central to the work, while the left side is open and expands to the lake symbolizing freedom.
Reverend James Francis Conover commissioned Uncle Tom and Little Eva in 1853 after a viewing of Duncanson’s work at the Fireman’s Hall exhibit in the same year. This work is his only one containing explicit African American subject matter, and it reveals his personal response to slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
. The theme of salvation from the novel depicted here can be read as both salvation for Eva and the salvation for all slaves. By painting this work, Duncanson announced his stance on slavery and “his hope for a religious basis for resolving the slavery question.”(p. 47)
Artworks
- Trial of Shakespeare,1843 (Douglass Settlement House, ToledoToledo, OhioToledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, Ohio ) - Roses Fancy Still Life, 1843 (National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
) - Drunkard's Plight, 1845 (Detroit Institute of ArtsDetroit Institute of ArtsThe Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...
) - At the Foot of the Cross, 1846 (Detroit Institute of ArtsDetroit Institute of ArtsThe Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...
) - Cliff Mine, Lake Superior, 1848 (F. Ward Paine Jr.)
- Mayan Ruins, Yucatan, 1848 (Dayton Art InstituteDayton Art InstituteThe Dayton Art Institute is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, USA. The Dayton Art Institute was rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for kids. The museum also ranks in the top 3% of all art museums in North America in 3 of 4 factors...
) - The Belmont Murals, 1850–1852 ((Panels) Taft Museum, CincinnatiCincinnati, OhioCincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, Ohio ) - View of Cincinnati, Ohio From Covington, Kentucky, 1851 (Cincinnati Historical Society)
- The Garden of Eden (after Cole), 1852 (High Museum of ArtHigh Museum of ArtThe High Museum of Art , located in Atlanta, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States and one of the most-visited art museums in the world. Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district, the High is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center.-History:The Museum was...
, AtlantaAtlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia ) - Dream of Arcadia (after Cole), 1852 (Private Collection, New York)
- Uncle Tom and Little Eva, 1853 (Detroit Institute of ArtsDetroit Institute of ArtsThe Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...
) - Italianate Landscape, 1855 (California African American Museum, Los AngelesLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, California ) - The Rainbow, 1859 (National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
) - Land of Lotus Eaters, 1861 (Collection of His Royal Majesty, the King of Sweden )
- Vale of Kashmir, 1863 (Private Collection, Detroit)
- A Dream of Italy, 1865 (Birmingham Museum of ArtBirmingham Museum of ArtFounded in 1951, the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama today has one of the finest collections in the Southeast US, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing a numerous diverse cultures, including Asian, European, American,...
, BirminghamBirmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, Alabama) - Cottate Opposite Pass at Ben Lomond, 1866 (Museum of Art, North Carolina Central UniversityNorth Carolina Central UniversityNorth Carolina Central University is a public historically black university in the University of North Carolina system, located in Durham, North Carolina, offering programs at the baccalaureate, master’s, professional and doctoral levels....
, purchase) - Loch Long, Scotland, 1867 (National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian InstitutionSmithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
) - Dog's Head Scotland, 1870 (Museum of Fine Arts, BostonMuseum of Fine Arts, BostonThe Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
) - Landscape, 1870 (Private Collection, PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Pennsylvania ) - Robbing the Eagle's Nest, 1856, (National Museum of African American History and CultureNational Museum of African American History and CultureThe National Museum of African American History and Culture is a Smithsonian Institution museum established in 2003. It will be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. In 2006, the Smithsonian's Board of Regents selected a site near the grounds of the Washington Monument and the...
)
Exhibitions
1842 Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Statuary, Western Art Union, Cincinnati, OH1843 Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Statuary, Western Art union, Cincinnati, OH
1864 Art Association of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
1865 Art Association of Montreal, Canada Dublin Exhibition, Ireland
1871 Western Art Gallery, Detroit, MI
1943 Balmoral Castle, Scotland, Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, NY
1953 Denver Art Museum
Denver Art Museum
The Denver Art Museum is an art museum in Denver, Colorado located in Denver's Civic Center.It is known for its collection of American Indian art,and has a comprehensive collection numbering more than 68,000 works from across the world....
, Denver, CO
1955 Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of the oldest art museums in the United States. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies. Its collection of over 60,000 works make it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Midwest.Museum founders debated locating...
, Cincinnati, OH
1961 Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indianapolis Museum of Art
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is an encyclopedic art museum located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum, which underwent a $74 million expansion in 2005, is located on a campus on the near northwest area outside downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery.The...
Indianapolis, IN
1967 Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
1970 La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA
1971 Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
, Museum of Contemporary Art, Brunswick, ME
1972 Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
1972 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
, Boston, MA
1976 Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, Los Angeles, CA
1979 Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...
, Detroit, MI
1983 National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
1992 National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
1996 Washington University, St. Louis, MO
1999 To Conserve a Legacy- American Art from History, Black Colleges and Universities," Studio Museum in Harlem
Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American contemporary art museum in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, New York. It was founded in 1968 as the first such museum in the U.S. devoted to the art of African-Americans, specializing in 19th and 20th century work as well work of artists of...
, NY
2003 Then and Now: Selection of 19-20th Century Art by African American Artists, Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...
, Detroit, MI
2009 Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH