Past Exhibition

East of the Mississippi: Nineteenth-Century American Landscape Photography

The image shows a construction site by a body of water, with workers laboring on a structure made of stones and logs at the water's edge. In the background, a range of hills covered in foliage can be seen. The scene is captured from a slightly elevated angle, with a cyanotype color palette emphasizing different shades of blue. The workers are depicted engaged in various tasks, conveying human activity and teamwork in a natural setting.
Henry Peter Bosse, Construction of Rock and Brush Dam, L[ow]. W[ater]. 1891, 1891, cyanotype, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon, 2006.131.2

Details

  • Dates

    -

  • Locations

    West Building, Ground Floor, Inner Tier Galleries
The image shows a construction site by a body of water, with workers laboring on a structure made of stones and logs at the water's edge. In the background, a range of hills covered in foliage can be seen. The scene is captured from a slightly elevated angle, with a cyanotype color palette emphasizing different shades of blue. The workers are depicted engaged in various tasks, conveying human activity and teamwork in a natural setting.
Henry Peter Bosse, Construction of Rock and Brush Dam, L[ow]. W[ater]. 1891, 1891, cyanotype, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon, 2006.131.2

The first exhibition to focus exclusively on photographs made in the eastern half of the United States during the 19th century, East of the Mississippi showcases some 175 works—from daguerreotypes and stereographs to albumen prints and cyanotypes—as well as several photographers whose efforts have often gone unheralded. Celebrating natural wonders such as Niagara Falls and the White Mountains, as well as capturing a cultural landscape fundamentally altered by industrialization, the Civil War, and tourism, these photographs not only helped shape America’s national identity but also played a role in the emergence of environmentalism.

Organization: The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Sponsors: The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Trellis Fund.

Additional funding is kindly provided by Kate and Wes Mitchell.

Attendance: 62,846

Catalog: East of the Mississippi Nineteenth-Century American Landscape Photography. By Diane Waggoner, et al. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2017.

Other venues: New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, October 5, 2017–January 7, 2018

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