Asher B. Durand (1796–1886)

Born in Jefferson Village, NJ, Asher Brown Durand was a commercially successful engraver before he began painting. In 1840, after a year-long tour of Europe, he came away dissatisfied with the European artists’ populated, civilized images of nature. His nostalgia for the uncorrupted nature of America’s distant past converged with a national effort to tie America’s cultural identity to the magnificence of its land. Durand’s art set an important precedent for the nation’s fledgling sense of self, painting landscapes as a direct expression of cultural nationalism. The botanical precision of his foliage captured every mossy-covered rock, branch, and leaf with topographical accuracy. His compositional elements--panoramic, sweeping views and vertical formats--are immediately recognizable in his works.

Following the death of Cole in 1848, Durand was considered the leader of the Hudson River School, which reached its peak by the 1850s.

He also played an instrumental role in founding some of America’s most well-known art institutions, including the Century Association, the New York Drawing Association, the Sketch Club, and the National Academy of Design, where he served as President from 1845 to 1861.

Retiring in 1869, he passed away in 1886 at his family farm in New Jersey. 

Durand was enormously successful throughout his career, but his fame soared to new heights when his painting Kindred Spirits (1849) was purchased by Walmart heiress Alice Walton in 2005 for a record price of $35 million. In 2006 the Brooklyn Museum launched a major retrospective of his art. Durand’s works may be viewed in many collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.