Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
(312) 443-3600
www.artic.edu
Terrain of Freedom: American Art and the
Civil War
An exhibition that explores the idea
of freedom as it was represented by various American artists during the
Civil War period remains on display in Galleries 141 and 142 through November
28, 1999. Terrain of Freedom: American Art and the Civil War highlights
two recent major Art Institute acquisitions: John Quincy Adams Ward's sculpture
The Freedman (1863) and Albert Bierstadt 's painting Mountain
Brook (1863), both of which were featured attractions in the 1863 annual
exhibition at New York's National Academy of Design. In addition to being
critical successes at the time, each carried specific iconographic meanings
related to the Civil War. Through a rich display of paintings, prints, photographs,
and sculpture, this exhibition probes how the concept of freedom -- as it
related to the "great national conflict" and the burning issue
of emancipation -- was seen by Americans before and during this crucial
period in American history.
Terrain
of Freedom is divided into two sections, one revolving
around The Freedman and one around Mountain Brook. The first
focuses on strong images of African American slaves and freedmen in Civil
War-era society. Modeled from life, The Freedman is widely considered
the first and most accurate representation of an African American figure
to be cast in bronze. Freed slaves were commonly portrayed in the 1860s
as being dependent on, and indebted to, their eventual emancipator Abraham
Lincoln. The Freedman's popularity, however, can be seen as a response
to Ward's presentation of his subject as independent, strong, and dignified
-- an agent of his own liberation. The sculpture further relates to the
historical role that African Americans played as soldiers, who joined the
Union Army in great numbers to fight for their own freedom. Other works
in this section of the exhibition -- by Currier & Ives, Samuel J. Miller,
and Alexander Gardner -- expand upon the portrayal of African Americans
as elevated in social standing and fighting to determine their own fate
in achieving citizenship and political rights. (left: John Quincy
Adams Ward,The Freedman, modeled in plaser1863, bronze, 19 5/8 x
15 3/4 x 9 3/8 inches, Roger McCormick Endowment, 1998.1)
The
Mountain Brook section presents a number of visual images of the
American landscape and examines their metaphorical relationship to freedom.
Responding to the crisis of this country's greatest internal conflict, artists
transformed natural events -- particularly autumn scenes -- into a type
of visual poetry that addressed the concerns of a nation at war with itself.
Bierstadt, for example, portrayed the White Mountains of New Hampshire as
virginal, unspoiled by civilization. Although it was a recognizably northern
landscape, Mountain Brook also functioned as an emblem for the nation
as a whole, both a signal image of peaceful times and a reminder of the
brutal confrontation then raging, with the simple details of nature taking
on symbolic meanings. Autumn foliage, for example, is seen as fratricidal
blood spilled upon the land, a passing from life to death. In addition to
the nationalistic Mountain Brook, particularly significant are On
the St. Anne's, East Canada (1863), by the African American artist Robert
Scott Duncanson, and Our Banner in the Sky (1861) by Frederic Edwin
Church. As the time's most popular form of American artistic expression,
these landscape paintings held the power to address the need for national
unity in a country otherwise torn by Civil War. (left: Albert Bierstadt,
Mountain Brook, 1863, oil on canvas, 44 x 36 inches, Restricted gift
of Mrs. Herbert A. Vance; fund of an anonymous doner; Wesley M. Dixon, Jr.,
Fund and Endowment; Henry Homer Strausss and Patrick G. Wacker endowments;
through prior acquisitions of various donors, including Samuel P. Avery
Endowment, Mrs. George A. Carpenter, Frederick S. Colburn, Mr. and Mrs.
Frank Harding, International Minerals and Chemicals Corp., Mr. and Mrs.
Ralph Loeff, Mrs. Frank C. Miller, Mahlan D. Moulds, Mrs. Clive Runnells,
Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Stone, and the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester
Collection, 1997.365)
Ward's The Freedman and Bierstadt's Mountain
Brook are masterful works in themselves. When their historical meaning
is unpacked and placed within a broader spectrum of Civil War-era visual
culture, Terrain of Freedom: American Art and the Civil War opens
a window on this country's most difficult moment: a moment when freedom
was the issue.
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of Chicago in Resource Library Magazine.
For further biographical information on selected artists
cited in this article please see America's
Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.
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Terrain
of Freedom is divided into two sections, one revolving
around The Freedman and one around Mountain Brook. The first
focuses on strong images of African American slaves and freedmen in Civil
War-era society. Modeled from life, The Freedman is widely considered
the first and most accurate representation of an African American figure
to be cast in bronze. Freed slaves were commonly portrayed in the 1860s
as being dependent on, and indebted to, their eventual emancipator Abraham
Lincoln. The Freedman's popularity, however, can be seen as a response
to Ward's presentation of his subject as independent, strong, and dignified
-- an agent of his own liberation. The sculpture further relates to the
historical role that African Americans played as soldiers, who joined the
Union Army in great numbers to fight for their own freedom. Other works
in this section of the exhibition -- by Currier & Ives, Samuel J. Miller,
and Alexander Gardner -- expand upon the portrayal of African Americans
as elevated in social standing and fighting to determine their own fate
in achieving citizenship and political rights. (left: John Quincy
Adams Ward,The Freedman, modeled in plaser1863, bronze, 19 5/8 x
15 3/4 x 9 3/8 inches, Roger McCormick Endowment, 1998.1)