WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Asher B. Durand

Asher B. Durand

1796

WA-00048080

PaintingHudson River School

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (1)

WikidataQ391608

Field Verification (4 fields)

2 cross-verified · 2 single-source

Is PublishedManual· 100%✓
Birth yearArtsy· 85%✓
LocationArtsy· 85%
NationalityArtsy· 85%

Source Registry (1)

Smithsonianhttps://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artist/?id=1364
Tier 1 · Institutional95%

About

Why this artist matters now

Asher B. Durand was an American landscape painter and engraver whose detailed, luminous forest and river scenes established the visual language of the Hudson River School. Moving from commercial engraving to oil painting in his forties, Durand developed a method of direct outdoor study that prioritized faithful transcription of American wilderness over European convention. His work celebrates the spiritual power of unspoiled nature through precise rendering of light, foliage, and geological form. Based in Maplewood, New Jersey, he became a central figure in the movement's philosophical and practical approach to landscape painting during the mid-nineteenth century.

Source: Smithsonian Institution · Trust score: 95% · Updated 11d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Hudson River School

Medium

Painting

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Canonical record

Artworks (4)

Forest Stream with Vista

1872 · oil on canvas

Unframed: 84 x 71.8 cm (33 1/16 x 28 1/4 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Trees on a Rocky Hillside

1844 · oil on canvas

Framed: 64.8 x 83.2 x 7.9 cm (25 1/2 x 32 3/4 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 42.5 x 61.3 cm (16 3/4 x 24 1/8 in.); Former: 53.5 x 72 x 6.5 cm (21 1/16 x 28 3/8 x 2 9/16 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Sarah Eliot Scoville

1830 · oil on canvas

Unframed: 86.4 x 68.7 cm (34 x 27 1/16 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Signing the Declaration of Independence

1823 · etching

Cleveland Museum of Art

Artwork sources (2)

4 published of 11 catalogued · 11 with image

Cleveland Museum of Art
4 published4 img
+ 1 more source · 7 catalogued, not yet published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 4)

4 entries · 1 sources

Trees on a Rocky Hillside
1844 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Sarah Eliot Scoville
1830 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Forest Stream with Vista
1872 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Signing the Declaration of Independence
1823 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record