Skip to main content
Washington University in St. Louis
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Create an account to add artworks to your personal collections.

Enter your email address below to recieve an email to reset your password.

An email has been sent to your inbox to reset your password.

image alt

George Inness

Landscape

1867

On View in Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 2

image alt
1 / 1

During the 1860s George Inness became interested in exploring methods of representing the mystical concept of the “unseen,” a popular topic in American art and culture during the latter half of the nineteenth century. In "Landscape," the partially obscured silhouette of a person, barely discernible in the cleft of the wheat field, allows the viewer to project any number of potential identities onto the figure. Inness frequently painted this motif, which some scholars interpret as a metaphor for a pilgrimage or spiritual journey that the viewer is invited to share. The moody brown and visible brushstrokes of the clouds swirling across the sky add tension to the domesticated scene of farmhouses and tilled lands. However, the gentle blue sky behind the thinning clouds suggests that the harmony of agrarian life may serve as a salve to an American consciousness still raw from the fracture of the Civil War. The pilgrim’s journey toward the distant farmhouses through the rolling wheat fields implies a destination of peace and plenty. A staunch abolitionist, Inness infused many of his paintings from the late 1860s with vaguely biblical metaphors of amity and conciliation in the Reconstruction-era American landscape. [Exhibition label, 2013]

  • Artist George Inness (American, 1825–1894)
  • Title Landscape
  • Date 1867
  • Medium Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions unframed | 15 5/8 x 26 3/4 in.
  • Credit line Gift of Eleanor M. Foster, a tribute to Joseph D. Ketner, 1998
  • Object number WU 1998.02
  • Currently on View Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 2

Reframing the 19th Century
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 06/20/2024

Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/09/2016 - 01/15/2017

American Places: Painting the Landscape in the Nineteenth Century
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/20/2013 - 01/06/2014

The Barbizon School and the Nature of Landscape
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/02/2008 - 07/21/2008

8/11/1998
C. Harry Foster

Inscription Verso, lower center, in black paint: G. Inness 1864

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.

Related Content

go to The Barbizon School and the Nature of Landscape page
no image
Exhibitions

The Barbizon School and the Nature of Landscape

May 02, 2008–July 21, 2008
go to American Places: Painting the Landscape in the Nineteenth Century page
no image
Exhibitions

American Places: Painting the Landscape in the Nineteenth Century

September 20, 2013–January 06, 2014
go to Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display page
no image
Exhibitions

Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display

September 09, 2016–January 15, 2017
go to Reframing the 19th Century page
51_2024_CBMAA_3_3_Bannister
Exhibitions

Reframing the 19th Century

June 20, 2024

Image Reproduction Request Form

To request image materials and/or permission to reproduce a work of art from the Museum's collection, please complete and submit the form below. The information you provide here will enable us to process your request and assess the appropriate images, permissions, and any applicable fees. 

Typically, image requests that do not require new photography can be completed within three weeks. Whenever possible, rush orders may be accommodated, although additional fees may apply.

If you have questions, please contact Kristin Good, associate registrar, at kristin.good@wustl.edu.

Checking this box constitutes a legal signature. By checking this box, the applicant agrees to abide by all terms and conditions under which permission is granted to reproduce works of art in the collection of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, and that permission is contingent upon payment of any applicable fees.

* Required fields

test View details