Frederic edwin church maine artist series#

It is now at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. This version of the Niagara scene, which depicts the falls from the Canadian side, attracted more than 100,000 viewers in New York alone. This certainly adds excitement to the already-dynamic composition and frothy white rapids. However, his final composition gives a very different impression, suggesting that the viewer is standing at the very edge of the water, at risk of getting swept away into the chaos.

He must have stood safely back from the rushing water to create his many preparatory sketches. Additionally, he heightened the drama through his compositional choices. In his panoramic canvas, Frederic Edwin Church was the first artist to depict Niagara on such a grand scale, as well as the first person to convey its appearance with such detail and faithfulness. It was North America’s first natural attraction, popular with tourists long before white settlers had any idea about the natural wonders out west.

Frederic edwin church maine artist series#

A series of three waterfalls, Niagara straddles the United States-Canada border in the state of New York and the province of Ontario. Here are some of his best know works.Ĭhurch’s first blockbuster painting depicts a North American natural wonder, Niagara Falls. Frederic Edwin Church took both these pieces of advice very much to heart. The scientist encouraged painters to study nature in service of their art and also to seek out subject matter beyond the traditional European haunts.

Humboldt was as big a fan of landscape painters as Church was of Humboldt. Humboldt was an intellectual star, and Church was among countless educated people who avidly read his many published works.

Church’s union of art and science derived in part from his admiration of Prussian naturalist, explorer, and writer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). His art condenses the essence of a place into a single painting, bringing together its noteworthy features for maximum impact. The artist faithfully studied and recorded all the details of everything he saw during his travels, but he combined those features into collage-like compositions that do not reflect any single vista in the real world. The 25-cent admission price also gave visitors access to a pair of opera glasses to see all the paintings’ little details and an explanatory pamphlet.Ĭhurch’s art pairs meticulous observation of the natural world with a Romantic sense of the grand and theatrical. People lined up around the street to view them. A smart businessman, Frederic Edwin Church displayed his works in single-painting exhibitions hosted at galleries in the United States and sometimes Britain.

After returning home to New York, he translated his experiences into monumental paintings. He sketched, painted, and studied the scenery as he went. He visited South America, Jamaica, the Arctic, Europe, and the Middle East. In addition to painting the American northeast, Frederic Edwin Church was a consummate world traveler. 1877, via Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City Frederic Edwin Church: A World Traveler The Aegean Sea by Frederic Edwin Church, c.