Twilight in the Wilderness
1860
Frederic Edwin Church
Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900)
American Painting and Sculpture
Twilight in the Wilderness, 1860. Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900). Oil on canvas; framed: 124 x 185 x 13 cm (48 13/16 x 72 13/16 x 5 1/8 in.); unframed: 101.6 x 162.6 cm (40 x 64 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1965.233 An image of this painting has a cameo in the Harrison Ford film Clear and Present Danger.
- Maker/Artist
- Church, Frederic Edwin
- Classification
- Painting
- Formatted Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 124 x 185 x 13 cm (48 13/16 x 72 13/16 x 5 1/8 in.); Unframed: 101.6 x 162.6 cm (40 x 64 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: Signed and dated lower right: "F. E. CHURCH / -60-"
- Departments
- American Painting and Sculpture
- Accession Number
- 1965.233
- Credit Line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Exhibitions
- Year in Review: 1965, Frederic Edwin Church, Art of the United States: 1670-1966, Wilderness, Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776 - 1976, American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875, Visions of Landscape: East and West, A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting, 1760 - 1910, American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School, Bilder Aus des Neuen Welt: Amerikanische Malerei des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts (Paintings from the New World: American Paintings from the 18th and the 19th Century), Frederic Edwin Church, Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum, America. The New World in 19th-century Painting America. Die Neue Welt in Bildern des 19. Jahrhunderts, The American Sublime, CMA Highlights, Maine Sublime, Goupil's Gallery, New York, June 1860., New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Academy of Design, The New York Centennial Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Selected from the Private Art Galleries, (1876), no. 125, listed as being part of J. T. Johnston's collection., New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paintings by Frederic E. Church, N. A., (28 May to 15 October1900), illustrated in catalogue as plate 6., Baltimore, The Municipal Art Society of Baltimore, Art Loan Exhibition, (1902), no. 89, listed as the property of Miss Garrett., Washington, D. C., National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Frederic Edwin Church, (12 February to 13 March 1966), no. 44; E18/ C56 W319. Exhibition traveled to the Albany Institute of History and Art (30 March through 30 April 1966), and, without Twilight in the Wilderness, to M. Knoedler and Company, New York (1 June through 30 June 1966)., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Art of the United States: 1670-1966, (28 September to 27 November, 1966), no. 48, brief comments about the color in Twilight in the Wilderness by Lloyd Goodrich, p. 25, catalogue., Washington, D. C., The National Endowment for the Arts with the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Wilderness, (9 October to 14 November 1971), no. 69., Buffalo, New York, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776-1976, (6 March to 11 April 1976), no. 10. Exhibition traveled to the Detroit Institute of Arts (5 May through 13 June 1976), The Toledo Museum of Art (4 July through 15 August 1976), and the Cleveland Museum of Art, (8 September through 10 October 1976)., Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875, (10 February through 15 June 1980), no. 204; includes the following remarks: in "Design and Measurement in Luminist Art", Lisa Andrus discusses the composition of and quality of light in Twilight in the Wilderness, p.36; Earl A. Powell's "Luminism and the American Sublime" describes Church's use of cadmium colors to achieve brilliant light in many of his paintings, including Twilight in the Wilderness; and Twilight's role in the development of the 19th century ideal of the sublime, p. 92; "Church and Luminism: Light for America's Elect" by David C. Huntington describes how Church's technique in Twilight in the Wilderness erases all evidence of the artist's touch, p. 170, illus. 167.<br>Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting, 1760- 1910, (7 September through 13 November 1983), no. 39., Also traveled to The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. (7 December 1983- 12 February 1984) and, without Twilight in the Wilderness, to Grand Palais, Paris (16 March- 11 June 1984).<br>New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School, (4 October 1987 through 3 January 1988), pp.45, 251-4., Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalerie, Orangerie des Schlosses Charlottenburg, Bilder Aus des Neuen Welt: Amerikanische Malerei des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts, (22 November 1988 through 5 February 1989), no. 15. Exhibition traveled to Kunsthaus Zurich, (3 March - 15 May 1989)., Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, Frederic Edwin Church, (8 October 1989 to 28 January 1990), no. 34, catalogue text by Franklin Kelly, pp. 58-59, 61-62, illus. p. 110, cat. 34., Vienna, Osterreichischen Galerie Belvedere, America: Die Neue Welt in Bildern des 19 Jahrunderts, (17 March through 20 June 1999), no. 45., London, The Tate Britain, American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States, 1820-1880, (21 February - 19 May 2002), no. 25; pp. 129-131, p. 55-6, illus. p. 115, 131; Exhibition traveled to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia (17 June -25 August 2002) and Minneapolis Institute of Art (22 September- 17 November 2002)., The Cleveland Museum of Art (06/21/2005 - 09/11/2005); "CMA Highlights", New York, Avery's Gallery, (1866). Also shown at Dusseldorf Gallery, New York, 1866. Both exhibitions held in connection with auction, according to The Round Table, 10 March 1866. (See reference above.), New Haven, Connecticut, Yale College, Second Annual Exhibition of the Yale School of the Fine Arts, Founded as a Department of Yale College by the Late Augustus Russell Street of New Haven, Conn., (1870), no. 114, listed as the property of John T. Johnston., New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Academy of Design, The New York Centennial Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Selected from the Private Art Galleries, (1876), no. 125, listed as being part of J. T. Johnston's collection., New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paintings by Frederic E. Church, N. A., (28 May to 15 October1900), illustrated in catalogue as plate 6., Baltimore, The Municipal Art Society of Baltimore, Art Loan Exhibition, (1902), no. 89, listed as the property of Miss Garrett., Washington, D. C., National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Frederic Edwin Church, (12 February to 13 March 1966), no. 44; E18/ C56 W319. Exhibition traveled to the Albany Institute of History and Art (30 March through 30 April 1966), and, without Twilight in the Wilderness, to M. Knoedler and Company, New York (1 June through 30 June 1966)., New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Art of the United States: 1670-1966, (28 September to 27 November, 1966), no. 48, brief comments about the color in Twilight in the Wilderness by Lloyd Goodrich, p. 25, catalogue., Washington, D. C., The National Endowment for the Arts with the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Wilderness, (9 October to 14 November 1971), no. 69., Buffalo, New York, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Heritage and Horizon: American Painting 1776-1976, (6 March to 11 April 1976), no. 10. Exhibition traveled to the Detroit Institute of Arts (5 May through 13 June 1976), The Toledo Museum of Art (4 July through 15 August 1976), and the Cleveland Museum of Art, (8 September through 10 October 1976)., Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850-1875, (10 February through 15 June 1980), no. 204; includes the following remarks: in "Design and Measurement in Luminist Art", Lisa Andrus discusses the composition of and quality of light in Twilight in the Wilderness, p.36; Earl A. Powell's "Luminism and the American Sublime" describes Church's use of cadmium colors to achieve brilliant light in many of his paintings, including Twilight in the Wilderness; and Twilight's role in the development of the 19th century ideal of the sublime, p. 92; "Church and Luminism: Light for America's Elect" by David C. Huntington describes how Church's technique in Twilight in the Wilderness erases all evidence of the artist's touch, p. 170, illus. 167.<br>Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting, 1760- 1910, (7 September through 13 November 1983), no. 39., Also traveled to The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. (7 December 1983- 12 February 1984) and, without Twilight in the Wilderness, to Grand Palais, Paris (16 March- 11 June 1984).<br>New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School, (4 October 1987 through 3 January 1988), pp.45, 251-4., Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalerie, Orangerie des Schlosses Charlottenburg, Bilder Aus des Neuen Welt: Amerikanische Malerei des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts, (22 November 1988 through 5 February 1989), no. 15. Exhibition traveled to Kunsthaus Zurich, (3 March - 15 May 1989)., Washington, D. C., National Gallery of Art, Frederic Edwin Church, (8 October 1989 to 28 January 1990), no. 34, catalogue text by Franklin Kelly, pp. 58-59, 61-62, illus. p. 110, cat. 34., Vienna, Osterreichischen Galerie Belvedere, America: Die Neue Welt in Bildern des 19 Jahrunderts, (17 March through 20 June 1999), no. 45., London, The Tate Britain, American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States, 1820-1880, (21 February - 19 May 2002), no. 25; pp. 129-131, p. 55-6, illus. p. 115, 131; Exhibition traveled to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia (17 June -25 August 2002) and Minneapolis Institute of Art (22 September- 17 November 2002)., The Cleveland Museum of Art (06/21/2005 - 09/11/2005); "CMA Highlights"
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 206 American Landscape
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