Book Description
Sanford Robinson Gifford was a leading Hudson River School artist. His love of nature first surfaced as a youth growing up in Hudson, New York, and, together with his admiration for the works of Thomas Cole, inspired him to become a landscape painter. Influenced as well by J. M. W. Turner and by trips to Europe in the 1850s, Gifford's art was termed "air painting," for he made the ambient light of each scene-color saturated and atmospherically enriched-the key to its expression. Gifford was a founder of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the time of his death, he was so esteemed by the New York art world that the Museum mounted an exhibition of his work-its first accorded an American artist-and published a Memorial Catalogue that for nearly a century remained the principal source on the artist. Now, to coincide with a long-overdue exhibition of Gifford's work, an important new book is being issued. This volume features essays examining Gifford's position in the Hudson River School, his Catskill and Adirondack subjects, his patrons, and his adventures as a traveler both at home and abroad. More than seventy of the artist's best-known sketches and paintings are discussed and reproduced in color.

From the Publisher
This volume is the catalogue for an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (October 7, 2003 to February 8, 2004); the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth (March 4 to May 16, 2004); and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (June 27 to September 26, 2004).

About the Author
Kevin J. Avery is Associate Curator, Department of American Paintings and Sculpture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Franklin Kelly is Curator of American and British Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Eleanor Jones Harvey is Luce Center Curator, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Heidi Applegate is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, New York.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Sanford Gifford (1823-1880), a leading Hudson River School landscape painter and a founder of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, was so esteemed by the New York art world that, at his untimely death, the Museum mounted a show of his work - the first monographic exhibition accorded any artist - and published a Memorial Catalogue that, for nearly a century, remained the principal source on his oeuvre.

Gifford's art, which was inspired by the work of Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School, and by that of J. M. W. Turner, and enriched by his travels in Europe (from 1855 to 1857, and from 1868 to 1869), came to be called "air painting," for he made the ambient light of each scene - color saturated and atmospherically potent - the key to its expression. His approach to painting and his unique style gave rise to a highly distinctive body of work, of enchanting and mesmerizing effect. While Gifford himself compiled a "List of Chief Pictures" late in his career, a significant part of his extant oeuvre consists of small-scale studies, preparatory works in oil, and original drawings, most of which are in annotated sketchbooks and document the progression from on-site record to idealized vision achieved in his major pictures.

FROM THE CRITICS

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