Artist:
Martin Johnson Heade
(American, 1819 - 1904)
New Jersey Salt Marsh
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date: ca. 1875-1885
Dimensions:
17 × 36 1/4 in. (43.2 × 92.1 cm)
Accession number: 2016.11.11
Label Copy:
Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Martin Johnson Heade turned to landscape painting shortly after moving to New York in 1859. There he absorbed the tenets of the Hudson River School, including the direct, highly detailed observation of nature and capturing ephemeral effects of light. Beginning in the early 1860s, Heade created a large number of paintings depicting the salt marshes of New Jersey and New England. While his contemporaries largely ignored these flat terrains, Heade, a hunter and fisherman, was drawn to the wetlands and painted them in a range of climatic moods.
Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Martin Johnson Heade turned to landscape painting shortly after moving to New York in 1859. There he absorbed the tenets of the Hudson River School, including the direct, highly detailed observation of nature and capturing ephemeral effects of light. Beginning in the early 1860s, Heade created a large number of paintings depicting the salt marshes of New Jersey and New England. While his contemporaries largely ignored these flat terrains, Heade, a hunter and fisherman, was drawn to the wetlands and painted them in a range of climatic moods.
Curatorial Remarks
Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Heade began studying under the renowned artist Edward Hicks with the intent to become a portrait painter. He traveled in Europe for several years, and in 1859 settled in New York where he acquired space in the Tenth Street Studio with celebrated landscape artists Alfred Bierstadt and Frederick Church. In fact, Heade turned to landscape painting shortly thereafter, clearly absorbing the tenets of the Hudson River School, including the direct, highly detailed observation of nature, and capturing the ephemeral effects of light. He was a frequent traveler throughout his career, not only within the United States but also in South America and Europe.
Beginning in the early 1860s and for two decades, Heade created a large number of paintings depicting the salt marshes of New Jersey and New England. While his contemporaries largely ignored these flat terrains, Heade, a hunter and fisherman, was drawn to the locales and painted the wetlands in a range of climatic moods. New Jersey Salt Marsh is one of the larger of this group of paintings. In this panoramic view of a hushed landscape, Heade adopts a low horizon line, giving dramatic focus to the chromatic brilliance of the twilight sky.
Born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Heade began studying under the renowned artist Edward Hicks with the intent to become a portrait painter. He traveled in Europe for several years, and in 1859 settled in New York where he acquired space in the Tenth Street Studio with celebrated landscape artists Alfred Bierstadt and Frederick Church. In fact, Heade turned to landscape painting shortly thereafter, clearly absorbing the tenets of the Hudson River School, including the direct, highly detailed observation of nature, and capturing the ephemeral effects of light. He was a frequent traveler throughout his career, not only within the United States but also in South America and Europe.
Beginning in the early 1860s and for two decades, Heade created a large number of paintings depicting the salt marshes of New Jersey and New England. While his contemporaries largely ignored these flat terrains, Heade, a hunter and fisherman, was drawn to the locales and painted the wetlands in a range of climatic moods. New Jersey Salt Marsh is one of the larger of this group of paintings. In this panoramic view of a hushed landscape, Heade adopts a low horizon line, giving dramatic focus to the chromatic brilliance of the twilight sky.
On view