Asher Brown Durand, a Hudson River School engraver and painter, was born in Springfield Township, New Jersey, in 1796. Durand, initially known for the high quality engravings that he and his brother were producing in their shop, did not begin painting until the 1830s, late in his career. As was the case with many other artists of the period, portraits and historical works constituted the bulk of his early work. But it was Durand’s friendship with Thomas Cole that inspired him to create and exhibit landscape paintings. The two men formed a friendship that lasted until Cole’s death; Durand subsequently became known as the leading figure of the group of artists described as the Hudson River School. In 1840, following in the footsteps of other American artists, Durand left for Europe on the "grand tour" of Europe. What he saw there, however, did not impress him, for he felt that the grandeur of the American landscape, Divine creation unspoiled, far surpassed anything the Europeans had.

Durand successfully reflected that sentiment in his sensitively rendered, intimate landscapes of the New England and Hudson River Valley areas of the United States. In addition, his writings on landscape painting, which were published in the art journal The Crayon, influenced a generation of American painters.

The Artwork

"The external appearance of this our dwelling place, apart from its wondrous structure and functions that minister to our well-being, is fraught with lessons of high and holy meaning, only surpassed by the light of Revelation."

Asher B. Durand

Woodland Interior is a plein-air study that Durand executed as preparation for a much larger work. Plein-air painting is done on the scene, with an eye to direct observation. The Hudson River School of painters was noted for its emphasis on this type of painting, although Durand often used these detailed studies as a stepping off point rather than a means to an end. His 1855 painting In the Woods incorporates the Woodland Interior study owned by the Smith College Museum of Art.

Unlike Thomas Cole, whose on-site sketches often relied upon written descriptions of color and color intensities, Durand’s sketches such as Woodland Interior are just as finished as any of his larger studio works. The artist’s background, as an engraver, emerges here in the linear style and precise rendering of forms.

"We see, yet we perceive not, and it becomes necessary to cultivate our perception so as to comprehend the essence of the object seen."

Asher B. Durand

A sense of serenity and stability could describe the overall mood of this scene. A quiet stream meanders through the lower portion of the composition. Sunlight filtered through the canopy bathes the forest floor, shimmering on the water’s surface and highlighting the understory, decaying stumps and fallen logs in warmer golden tones. An opening in the distance, framed by the arching trees, reveals the crystal blue sky and evokes a sense of mystery regarding what lies beyond. The quality of the lighting and atmosphere is so subtly but well expressed that it is possible to come away with a full sensory perception of this place without ever having been there.

Like Thomas Cole, in Voyage of Life, Durand emphasizes the diagonal in this composition, though the overall feeling is quite different. In Durand’s painting the diagonals appear in pairs, as opposing forces that hold each other in balance, creating triangular formations. Appearing throughout the composition, the major triangular forms are composed of the inward arched trees that rhythmically recede, drawing the eye to the bright opening in the distance.

Here, the allusion to a great cathedral is evident. If the trees form the great arches of the nave, then the bright opening in the distance is akin to the altar. The construction is reminiscent of the structure of a basilican church: entering through the west doors, the rhythmic scansion of the nave vaulting directs the visitor to the altar at the east end. Often, the altar was flooded with light, much brighter and more directed than anywhere else in the church. The symbolic reference to this Divine light at the altar could be carried over to ‘Nature’s Cathedral’ in Durand’s study. This interpretation is strengthened by Durand’s own writing (see quote, above).

Bibliography

The Dictionary of Art, Volume 9 of 34. Jane Turner, Ed. New York: Macmillan Publishers,

Ltd., 1996. SC/Art Reference

Durand, Asher B. , "Letters on Landscape Painting", Crayon; excerpts reprinted in J.W. McCoubrey: American Art, 1700-1960: Sources and Documents (Englewood Cliffs, 1965). SC/Art N6505.A6195 1965.