Author Description

Luminist Horizons celebrates the art and collection of James A. Suydam (1819-1865), an American landscapist best known for his luminist paintings. Despite the fact that his name has been linked with luminism since the term was first coined, Suydam has not received the scholarly attention he deserves. With approximately 180 reproductions (eighty in color), this book considers Suydam's work in tandem with that of fellow Hudson River School artists such as Asher B. Durand, Frederic E. Church, and John F. Kensett and therefore contributes an important chapter to the history of American landscape painting. Significantly, Suydam's enduring legacy extends beyond his own creative output; his passionate commitment to art motivated his encouragement of emerging artists and his purchase of their paintings. When Suydam died he bequeathed ninety-two contemporary American and European paintings to the Academy, a gift that formed the nucleus of the Academy's permanent collection. Luminist Horizons accompanies an exhibition that opens at the National Academy Museum in New York in September 2006 before traveling to the Taft Museum of Art (Cincinnati, Ohio) and the Telfair Museum of Art (Savannah, Georgia). 80 color illustrations, 100 in black and white.