Kauterskill Clove, Catskill Mountains

1880

Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823–1880)

The Catskill Mountains were a favored subject of Sanford Robinson Gifford, an important landscape painter of the mid-nineteenth century who grew up nearby in Hudson, New York. In Kauterskill Clove, Catskill Mountains, Gifford bathes the forested gorge in golden light. The scene’s thick, rich atmosphere transforms a topographical view into a romantic vista. A miniscule daub of blue paint on the rocks in the foreground suggests the presence of a figure and, in turn, signals the immensity of nature, visualized here as a place of spiritual transcendence. Gifford painted numerous versions of Kauterskill Clove throughout his career, with this small sketch completed during the last year of his life.

Status: On View, Gallery 172
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Sanford Robinson Gifford
Title: Kauterskill Clove, Catskill Mountains
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1880
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 33.7 × 27 cm (13 1/4 × 10 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: The Goodman and Wirt D. Walker funds
Reference Number: 1982.270
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/97291/manifest.json

Annual report (Art Institute of Chicago, 1981–82) p. 62 (ill.).
Ila Weiss, “The Poetic Landscape: the Art and Experience of Sanford R. Gifford,” (University of Delaware Press, 1987) p. 320.

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Memorial Collection of the Works of the Late Sanford R. Gifford, Oct. 20, 1880–Apr. 1, 1881, cat. 36.

Charles Othniel Marsh, Connecticut, until 1899; with his estate. Peter Davidson, New York, by 1982; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1982.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.