Tennessee

Alexander H. Wyant

1866 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

Wyant, a native of Ohio, painted Tennessee after his 1865 trip to Europe, where he had studied with the Norwegian artist Hans Fredrik Gude. The composition shows his transition from the precise, linear technique of the Hudson River School at midcentury to the freer style, inspired by the Barbizon landscape painters, that characterized his later work. The subject is unusual in that it was painted during the Civil War, at a time when Northern landscape artists avoided portraying the Southern states. While there is no record of the artist’s visiting Tennessee, he spent time in nearby Kentucky during his career.

Artist

Alexander H. Wyant

Date

1866

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. George E. Schanck, in memory of her brother, Arthur Hoppock Hearn, 1913