Woods of Ashokan
Artist
Thomas Worthington Whittredge
(American, 1820-1910)
CultureAmerican
Date1868
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions57 x 40 1/2 in. (144.8 x 102.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 63 1/2 x 46 1/2 in. (161.3 x 118.1 cm)
Overall, Frame: 63 1/2 x 46 1/2 in. (161.3 x 118.1 cm)
InscribedSigned and dated lower left: W. Whittredge 1868
Credit LineGift of Mr. Edward J. Brickhouse
Object number81.109
Collections
On View
Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 212
Label TextWorthington Whittredge American, 1820–1910 The Woods of Ashokan, 1868 Oil on canvas The sun’s golden rays filter into this upstate New York forest, immersing you in a warm and peaceful retreat. During and after the Civil War, appreciation for the natural world provided escape and healing from the unpleasant political and social realities at hand. Worthington Whittredge subtly enlivens The Woods of Ashokan with clues to the sounds of this space—a babbling brook, chirping birds—inviting you to linger and meditate within this pure and soothing world. Gift of Edward J. Brickhouse 81.109 ProvenanceThe artist; as late as 1871; Samuel. A. Foot (1790-1878), Geneva, N.Y., by 1876; Katzenbach family, New Canaan, Conn.; Kennedy Galleries, late 1950s, as _View in the Ashokan Forest_; Mr. Edward J. Brickhouse, Norfolk, Va.; Gift of Mr. Edward J. Brickhouse to the Chrysler Museum, 1981.; [note: Judge Samuel A. Foot is Whittredge's father-in-law. Whittredge married Euphemia Foot in 1867. S. A. Foot loaned the work to the 1876 Centennial exhibition. The artist's youngest daughter Mary's married name was Katzenbach. This painting was acquired by Rudy Wunderlich [of Kennedy Galleries] from Mr. Katzenbach [a grandson of Worthington Whittredge] in the late 1950s. There were two Katzenbach grandsons who owned paintings by Whittredge.] Exhibition HistoryNational Academy of Design, New York, N.Y., 1868, no. 204. Chicago Academy of Design, Ill., 1868, no. 60 Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts, Ohio, 1868-1869, no. 51. Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, N.Y., 1869, no. 127, as _Woods at Shokan_. Artists Fund Society, New York, N.Y., February 6, 1871, no. 36. Century Association, New York, N.Y., December 1876, no. 25. "International Exhibition of 1876," U.S. Centennial Commission, Philadelphia, Pa., no. 460. "Worthington Whittredge Retrospective," Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, N.Y., October 12 - November 16, 1969; Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, N.Y., December 2 - January 18, 1970; Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio, February 6 - March 8, 1970. (Exh. cat. no. 16) "Quiet Places: The American Landscapes of Worthington Whittredge," Adams Davidson Galleries, Washington, D.C., April 30 - June 17, 1982. (Exh. cat. no. 12) "Worthington Whittredge," The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla., December 8, 1989 - February 12, 1990; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Tex., March 24 - May 20, 1990; Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, Tenn., June 10 - August 5, 1990; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., September 8 - November 4, 1990. "The Tenth Street Studio Building: Artist-Entrepreneurs from the Hudson River School to the American Impressionists," The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y., June 8 - August 10, 1997; The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, New York, N.Y., August 21 - November 16, 1997. "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. "Expanding Horizons: Painting and Photography of American and Canadian Landscape 1860-1918," The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada, June 18 - September 27, 2009; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, October 17, 2009- January 17, 2010.Published References"Selections of American Nineteenth Century Paintings from our Current Stock," _Kennedy Quarterly_ 1, no. 1 (Dec. 1959), Kennedy Galleries, New York, no. 12. Edward H. Dwight, _Worthington Whittredge (1820-1910): A Retrospective Exhibition of an American Artist_, exh. cat., Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, N.Y., 1969, 39, no. 16. "Recent Accessions," Chrysler Museum _Bulletin_ 12, no. 1 (Jan. 1982): 3. Cheryl A. Cibulka, _Quiet Places: The American Landscapes of Worthington Whittredge_, exh. cat., Adams Davidson Galleries, Washington, D.C., 1982, 20, 50, no. 12. Kenneth Myers, _The Catskills: Painters, Writers, and Tourists in the Mountains 1820-1895_, exh. cat., Hudson River Museum of Westchester, Yonkers, N.Y., 1988, 191, 193. ISBN: 0943651050 Franklin Kelly, _American Paintings from the Manoogian Collection_, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1989, 26, 28, Fig. 1. ISBN: 0894681303 Anthony F. Janson, _Worthington Whittredge_ (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 105-106, Fig. 76, 110. ISBN: 0521324327 Fabienne-Charlotte Oraezie Vallino, "Alle radici dell'etica ambientale: pensiero sulla natura, wilderness e creatività artistica negli Stati Uniti del XIX secolo (Parte Seconda)," _Storia dell'Arte_ no. 79 (1993): 358-360, fig. 26. Annette Blaugrund, _The Tenth Street Studio Building: Artist-Entrepreneurs from the Hudson River School to the American Impressionists_, exh. cat., Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y., 1997, 88-89, fig 48, 91, 139. ISBN: 0943526302, 0295976357 Annette Blaugrund, "The Tenth Street Studio Building," _American Art Review_ 9, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1997): 140. Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 6, 88-89, no. 52. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6 Goldfarb, Hilliard T., ed. _Expanding Horizons: Painting and Photography of American and Canadian Landscape 1860-1918_, exh. cat. (Montreal, Quebec: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2009), 66, 68. ISBN: 9782757203071.
