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Hudson River School Visions: The Landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford

June 27 – September 26, 2004
West Building, Main Floor, Galleries 72 through 77

Sanford Robinson Gifford, Siout, Egypt, 1874, oil on canvas, New Century Fund, Gift of Joan and David Maxwell, 1999.7.1

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: 70 landscape paintings were displayed in this survey of the work of American painter Sanford R. Gifford, the first exhibition dedicated to the artist in more than 30 years. Inspired by the natural world, Gifford explored the effects of light and atmosphere in his depictions of the Hudson River valley, the Catskill Mountains, and various sites abroad. 3 paintings were shown at the Washington venue only: Morning in the Adirondacks and Sunset in the Shawangunk Mountains from the Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art, on loan from the Warner Collection of Gulf States Paper Corporation, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and View from South Mountain in the Catskills on loan from the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

A special 8-part series of lectures on landscape painting presented by staff and visiting lecturers was held in conjunction with the exhibition.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The curators were Franklin Kelly, senior curator of American and British paintings at the National Gallery, and Kevin J. Avery, associate curator, with the assistance of Claire A. Conway, research assistant, department of American paintings and sculpture, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Sponsor: The exhibition was supported by the Henry Luce Foundation.

Attendance: 85,414

Catalog: Hudson River School Visions: The Landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford, edited by Kevin J. Avery and Franklin Kelly. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.

Other Venues: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 7, 2003–February 8, 2004
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, March 6–May 16, 2004

Gifford, Sanford Robinson
American, 1823 - 1880