Art Speaks: American Artists’ Fascination with Nature, 1830–1870

With Amy Torbert, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of American Art

The artist Thomas Cole believed that “to walk with nature as a poet is the necessary condition of a perfect artist.” In celebration of Earth Day, join curator Amy Torbert on a virtual stroll through landscapes currently on view in the Museum’s galleries of 19th-century American art. Through works of art, we will visit New York, Italy, and Canada as we consider how artists—from Cole to Albert Bierstadt, William Trost Richards, David Johnson, Jasper Francis Cropsey, and Robert Seldon Duncanson—translated their obsession with studying nature into potent messages for viewers, both then and now.

This virtual program will take place via Zoom and will include opportunities for participants to ask questions with the Q&A feature. Attendees’ mics and cameras will not be activated. This event will have automated closed captions through Zoom.

Attendees must register to receive the Zoom link. Capacity for the live program is limited.

A closed-captioned recording of the program will be available on the Museum’s YouTube channel in the weeks following.