Maker/Artist
Duncanson, Robert Seldon
African painter and daguerreotypist 1821-1872
A landscape painter of the Hudson River school, Duncanson was the first African-American artist to receive international acclaim. He was self-taught, as is evident in the style of his early works; however, he ultimately became renowned for his romantic and realistic landscapes. He was active primarily in Michigan and Ohio, although he traveled to Europe and lived briefly in Montreal, where he had moved to avoid the Civil War. In Canada, he inspired a younger genration of artists to form the first Canadian school of landscape painting.