The Birches of the Catskills
ca. 1875
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of William Katzenbach
Accession Number
1967.144
Tags
About this artwork
Worthington Whittredge found it difficult to adjust to painting the New England landscape after almost ten years abroad. He described the forests as âa mass of decaying logs and tangled brush woodâ that were completely different from the âwell-orderedâ European views he was used to. (The Autobiography of Worthington Whittredge, 1942, reprinted in Janson, Worthington Whittredge, 1989) The broad brushstrokes of The Birches of the Catskills suggest that Whittredge painted the small canvas o...
Art Historical Context
Worthington Whittredge, prominent 19th-century American landscape painter, captured the wild beauty of the Catskill in *The Birches the Catskills* around 1875. After nearly a decade studying and painting in Europe, where he grew accustomed to manicured, "well-ordered" vistas, Whittredge returned the U.S. and struggled with the rugged New England forests. He described them as "a of decaying logs and tangled wood," a stark contrast that both challenged and inspired him. Painted en plein air on a small canvas, the work features broad, energetic brushstrokes that evoke the spontaneity of on-site ...