Shawangunk Mt., Catskills, 1871 (from Sketchbook)

Art Historical Context

Daniel Huntington's *Shawangunk Mt.,kills, 1871 (from Sketchbook)* captures rugged beauty of New York's Catskill Mountains in a intimate graphite sketch. Created around 1870, this small drawing (5 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches) reflects the 19th-century American fascination with the nation's wild landscapes, a hallmark of the Hudson River School to which Huntington contributed through his landscapes and portraits. As a leading figure in American art and president of the National Academy Design, Huntington often sketched en plein air to study nature's forms, preserving fleeting moments of the Shawangunk r...

About the Artist

Daniel Huntington · 1816–1906

Daniel Huntington (1816–1906) was born into a prominent New York family on October 4, 1816, descending from distinguished New England lineage. His early education began at age fourteen at Smith's Academy in New Haven, followed by Yale College, where he studied with Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor, artist, and president of the National Academy of Design, in 1835. After a disciplinary incident invo...