Sheldon Museum of Art Main Content
Duncanson, Untitled
Untitled (Woodland Scene)1860–1865Oil on canvas18 1/4 × 14 3/4H-3115.2012University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Anna R. and Frank M. Hall Charitable Trust
Robert Seldon DuncansonRobert Seldon Duncanson was the first African American artist to receive national and international recognition. During the 1850s, Duncanson began to specialize in landscapes in the style of the Hudson River school. Although unusual in its vertical orientation, this painting is characteristic of the artist’s work in the late 1850s and early 1860s, when he frequently painted idyllic scenes of brooks, lakes, and woods. Here, Duncanson’s one-point perspective and tiny figures keep us outside the frame, inviting the eye to penetrate into the atmospheric distance rather than becoming absorbed in naturalistic details of rocks and trees in the foreground.
American
18211872Detroit, MIFayette, NY
Robert Seldon DuncansonRobert Seldon Duncanson was the first African American artist to receive national and international recognition. During the 1850s, Duncanson began to specialize in landscapes in the style of the Hudson River school. Although unusual in its vertical orientation, this painting is characteristic of the artist’s work in the late 1850s and early 1860s, when he frequently painted idyllic scenes of brooks, lakes, and woods. Here, Duncanson’s one-point perspective and tiny figures keep us outside the frame, inviting the eye to penetrate into the atmospheric distance rather than becoming absorbed in naturalistic details of rocks and trees in the foreground.
American
18211872Detroit, MIFayette, NY