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At one time, Thomas Jefferson owned Natural Bridge and the land that surrounded it. In his Notes on the State of Virginia he wrote, “It is impossible for emotions arising from the sublime to be felt beyond what they are here.” [1] In the nineteenth century, the Virginia land bridge was among the most well known natural wonders in North America. Thousands of European and American tourists journeyed to the site, marveling at what they saw as evidence of God’s sublime creation. During the mid-nineteenth century, when the nation grappled with the trauma of sectionalism and the outbreak of the Civil War, landscape took on a different symbolic meaning. As scholars Steven Conn and Andrew Walker explain, artists of the Civil War era “attempted to represent not a national landscape per se, but landscapes that depicted in some way the fractured state of the nation.” [2] In this context, Johnson’s pre-Civil War depiction of Natural Bridge—its arc shape a unifying design—can be understood as an appeal to unity during a period of unrest.
During 1860, Johnson painted the landmark from three different perspectives: two close views looking up and this grand panoramic view. While his tight brushwork and realistic coloration capture the site in accurate detail, Johnson has eliminated signs of tourism that would have been apparent by the mid-nineteenth century. Their elimination also functions to heighten the symbolic nature of this beautiful scene.
Notes:
[1] Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia 1784; reprint (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1982), 17.
[2] Steven Conn and Andrew Walker, “The History in the Art: Painting the Civil War,” in Museum Studies 27 (2001), 74.
ProvenanceSloan and Roman, New York NY. [1]
1968
Hirschl & Alder Galleries, Inc., New York NY. [2]
1968
R. Philip Hanes, Jr., purchased from Hirschl & Alder Galleries, Inc., New York on April 17, 1968. [3]
From 1968
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC, given by R. Philip Hanes, Jr. on September 12, 1968. [4]
Notes:
[1] Letter from Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc. on October 13, 1984 to Reynolda House.
[2] Bill of sale, Object File.
[3] See note 2.
[4] Deed of gift, Object File.
Exhibition History1971
Reynolda House American Paintings
Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York NY (1/13/1971-1/31/1971)
Cat. No. 12
For the benefit of the Smith College Scholarship Fund
1978
Thomas Sully And His Contemporaries
Bedford Gallery, Longwood College, Farmville VA (1/27/1978-3/12/1978)
1982
Images Of The Natural Bridge
DuPont Gallery, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA (1/4/1982-1/29/1982)
1987-1988
The Hudson River School: The Rise Of American Landscape Painting
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY (9/22/1987-1/3/1988)
1988-1989
Nature Transcribed: The Landscapes and Still Lifes of David Johnson
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca NY (11/5/1988-12/23/1988)
The Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park MD (1/31/1989-3/5/1989)
Georgia Art Museum, University of Georgia, Athens GA (3/25/1989-5/7/1989)
National Academy of Design, New York NY (7/10/1989-9/10/1989)
1990-1992
American Originals, Selections From Reynolda House Museum Of American Art
The American Federation of Arts
Center for the Fine Arts, Miami FL (9/22/1990-11/18/1990)
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs CA (12/16/1990-2/10/1991)
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (3/6/1991-5/11/1991)
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis TN (6/2/1991-7/28/1991)
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth TX (8/17/1991-10/20/1991)
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago IL (11/17/1991-1/12/1992)
The Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK (3/1/1992-4/26/1992)
2005
Vanguard Collecting: American Art at Reynolda House
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC (4/1/2005-8/21/2005)
2011-2012
Wonder & Enlightenment: Artist-Naturalists in the Early American South
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (8/13/2011- 2/20/2012)
2017
Samuel F.B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (02/17/2017 - 06/04/2017)
2021-2022
Virginia Acadia: The Natural Bridge in American Art
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (2/6/2021 - 8/1/2021)
Taubman Museum of Art (4/1/2022 - 8/2/2022)
Published ReferencesLassiter, Barbara B. Reynolda House American Paintings. Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House, Inc., 1971: 26, illus. 27.
O'Gorman, James. H.H. Richardson: Architectural Forms For An American Society. Chicago: University of Chcago Press, 1987.
Millhouse, Barbara B. & Workman, Robert. American Originals. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1990: 58-59.
Crawford, Barbara and Royster Lyle. Artists And Artisans, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994.
Living In Our World: The Americas. Raleigh, NC: Humanities Extension/Publications Program North Carolina State University, 1998: illus. 20.
The American Art Book. London: Phaidon Press, Inc., 1999: 230, illus. 230.
Coffey, David W. "Into the Valley of Virginia." Virginia Cavalcade. (Spring 1990): 158-171, illus. 164.
Catalogue Of Paintings In Oil, Of David Johnson, N.A. New York: Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, 1890: no. 109, may be this painting with incorrect dimensions or another of the same subject.
Archer, Philip R. and Martha R. Severens, "Artist-Naturalists in the Early American South" American Art Review Vol.XXIV, No.1 (2012)
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg. 118, 119, 124, 224
DepartmentAmerican Art
Natural Bridge, Virginia
Artist
David Johnson
(1827 - 1908)
Date1860
Mediumoil on canvas
DimensionsFrame: 20 x 27 3/4 in. (50.8 x 70.5 cm)
Image: 14 1/4 x 22 1/4 in. (36.2 x 56.5 cm)
SignedD. J. 1860
Credit LineGift of Philip Hanes Jr., in honor of Charles H. Babcock, Sr.
CopyrightPublic domain
Object number1968.2.2
DescriptionNatural Bridge, Virginia is a testament to landscape theories of the sublime in nature, as well as a symbol of the social and political climate of the mid-nineteenth century. The painting possesses a clarity of light that emphasizes the beauty of the geologic natural wonder. The distanced view places Natural Bridge in the center surrounded by dense vegetation. In a hazy blue sky billowing clouds at the left mirror the shape of the arch. A winding path begins in the right foreground and crosses over to the bridge, creating the illusion of space. In addition to the path, grazing livestock and a small homestead indicate human presence suggesting a balance between man and nature. This balance, paired with the relatively small scale of the work and its elevated perspective, prevents the viewer from being overwhelmed by a spectacular vista and instead encourages thoughtful contemplation. At one time, Thomas Jefferson owned Natural Bridge and the land that surrounded it. In his Notes on the State of Virginia he wrote, “It is impossible for emotions arising from the sublime to be felt beyond what they are here.” [1] In the nineteenth century, the Virginia land bridge was among the most well known natural wonders in North America. Thousands of European and American tourists journeyed to the site, marveling at what they saw as evidence of God’s sublime creation. During the mid-nineteenth century, when the nation grappled with the trauma of sectionalism and the outbreak of the Civil War, landscape took on a different symbolic meaning. As scholars Steven Conn and Andrew Walker explain, artists of the Civil War era “attempted to represent not a national landscape per se, but landscapes that depicted in some way the fractured state of the nation.” [2] In this context, Johnson’s pre-Civil War depiction of Natural Bridge—its arc shape a unifying design—can be understood as an appeal to unity during a period of unrest.
During 1860, Johnson painted the landmark from three different perspectives: two close views looking up and this grand panoramic view. While his tight brushwork and realistic coloration capture the site in accurate detail, Johnson has eliminated signs of tourism that would have been apparent by the mid-nineteenth century. Their elimination also functions to heighten the symbolic nature of this beautiful scene.
Notes:
[1] Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia 1784; reprint (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1982), 17.
[2] Steven Conn and Andrew Walker, “The History in the Art: Painting the Civil War,” in Museum Studies 27 (2001), 74.
ProvenanceSloan and Roman, New York NY. [1]
1968
Hirschl & Alder Galleries, Inc., New York NY. [2]
1968
R. Philip Hanes, Jr., purchased from Hirschl & Alder Galleries, Inc., New York on April 17, 1968. [3]
From 1968
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC, given by R. Philip Hanes, Jr. on September 12, 1968. [4]
Notes:
[1] Letter from Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc. on October 13, 1984 to Reynolda House.
[2] Bill of sale, Object File.
[3] See note 2.
[4] Deed of gift, Object File.
Exhibition History1971
Reynolda House American Paintings
Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York NY (1/13/1971-1/31/1971)
Cat. No. 12
For the benefit of the Smith College Scholarship Fund
1978
Thomas Sully And His Contemporaries
Bedford Gallery, Longwood College, Farmville VA (1/27/1978-3/12/1978)
1982
Images Of The Natural Bridge
DuPont Gallery, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA (1/4/1982-1/29/1982)
1987-1988
The Hudson River School: The Rise Of American Landscape Painting
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY (9/22/1987-1/3/1988)
1988-1989
Nature Transcribed: The Landscapes and Still Lifes of David Johnson
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca NY (11/5/1988-12/23/1988)
The Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park MD (1/31/1989-3/5/1989)
Georgia Art Museum, University of Georgia, Athens GA (3/25/1989-5/7/1989)
National Academy of Design, New York NY (7/10/1989-9/10/1989)
1990-1992
American Originals, Selections From Reynolda House Museum Of American Art
The American Federation of Arts
Center for the Fine Arts, Miami FL (9/22/1990-11/18/1990)
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs CA (12/16/1990-2/10/1991)
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY (3/6/1991-5/11/1991)
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis TN (6/2/1991-7/28/1991)
Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth TX (8/17/1991-10/20/1991)
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago IL (11/17/1991-1/12/1992)
The Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK (3/1/1992-4/26/1992)
2005
Vanguard Collecting: American Art at Reynolda House
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem NC (4/1/2005-8/21/2005)
2011-2012
Wonder & Enlightenment: Artist-Naturalists in the Early American South
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (8/13/2011- 2/20/2012)
2017
Samuel F.B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (02/17/2017 - 06/04/2017)
2021-2022
Virginia Acadia: The Natural Bridge in American Art
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (2/6/2021 - 8/1/2021)
Taubman Museum of Art (4/1/2022 - 8/2/2022)
Published ReferencesLassiter, Barbara B. Reynolda House American Paintings. Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House, Inc., 1971: 26, illus. 27.
O'Gorman, James. H.H. Richardson: Architectural Forms For An American Society. Chicago: University of Chcago Press, 1987.
Millhouse, Barbara B. & Workman, Robert. American Originals. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1990: 58-59.
Crawford, Barbara and Royster Lyle. Artists And Artisans, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1994.
Living In Our World: The Americas. Raleigh, NC: Humanities Extension/Publications Program North Carolina State University, 1998: illus. 20.
The American Art Book. London: Phaidon Press, Inc., 1999: 230, illus. 230.
Coffey, David W. "Into the Valley of Virginia." Virginia Cavalcade. (Spring 1990): 158-171, illus. 164.
Catalogue Of Paintings In Oil, Of David Johnson, N.A. New York: Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, 1890: no. 109, may be this painting with incorrect dimensions or another of the same subject.
Archer, Philip R. and Martha R. Severens, "Artist-Naturalists in the Early American South" American Art Review Vol.XXIV, No.1 (2012)
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg. 118, 119, 124, 224
Status
On view