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Jul 15, 2014

Vale of Kashmir

1867

Robert S. Duncanson

(American, 1821–1872)

America, 19th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 94.9 x 154.6 x 12.1 cm (37 3/8 x 60 7/8 x 4 3/4 in.); Unframed: 73 x 132.4 cm (28 3/4 x 52 1/8 in.)

Sundry Purchase Fund 2014.12

Location

206 American Landscape

Did you know?

During the Civil War, Duncanson relocated to Montreal, where he inspired several Canadian landscape painters.

Description

Cincinnati-based Duncanson was the first African American artist to achieve recognition both nationally and abroad. This panoramic painting, one of his grandest, was inspired by an episode in Thomas Moore’s then-popular epic poem, Lalla-Rookh (1817), which describes a Persian princess’s journey to the Indian subcontinent to be married. In Duncanson’s conception, members of a courtly entourage depart a quasi-Islamic palace, arriving by boat onto a scrim of land where they ascend a monumental staircase to a plaza with a fountain spraying an impressive plume of water. Despite these substantial storytelling details, the human elements remain subordinate to the overwhelming splendor of the natural landscape in and of itself.

Video

Inscriptions

Inscription

Inscribed at lower right: Duncanson. / 1867. / Cinti O

Provenance

Mary Elizabeth Jergens. Los Angeles; Spanierman Gallery, New York [1980]; Richard and Jane Manoogian, Grosse Pointe Park, MI, purchased 1980.

Citations

Robert S. Duncanson: A Centennial Exhibition. Cincinnati, OH : Cincinnati Art Museum, 1972. Mentioned: p. 15, 40; Reproduced: p. 29

Cederholm, Theresa Dickason. Afro-American Artists; a Bio-Bibliographical Directory. Boston, MA: Trustees of the Boston Public Library, 1973. Reproduced: p. 83

Manoogian, Richard A. American Paintings from the Manoogian Collection. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1989. Reproduced: p. 25

Thomison, Dennis. The Black Artist in America: An Index to Reproductions. Metuchen, NJ.: Scarecrow Press, 1991. Reproduced: p. 90

Ketner, Joseph D. The Emergence of the African-American Artist: Robert S. Duncanson, 1821-1872. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1993. Mentioned: p. 8, 162-163, 202; Reproduced: cover, p. 130-131

Katz, Wendy Jean. Regionalism and Reform: Art and Class Formation in Antebellum Cincinnati. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 2002. Mentioned: p. 130, 134; Reproduced: p. 130

Sharp, Kevin, Adam M. Thomas, and Kevin Sharp. Bold, Cautious, True: Walt Whitman and American Art of the Civil War Era. Memphis, TN: Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 2009. Mentioned: p. 153-157; Reproduced: p. 56

Cleveland Museum of Art. Artistic Excellence: Acquisitions 2012-14. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned: p. 30-31

Arendsee, M., and M. Steinman-Arendsee. "Take the CAN disability aesthetics tour, at the Cleveland Museum of art." CAN Journal (Winter 2019/20): 76-87. Mentioned: p. 79

Exhibition history

Robert S. Duncanson: A Centennial Exhibition, Cincinnati Art Museum, March 16-April 30, 1972.

American Paintings from the Manoogian Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (June 4-September 4, 1989); M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA (September 23-November 26, 1989); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (December 18, 1989-February 25, 1990); Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (March 27-May 27, 1990).

Lifting the Veil: Robert S. Duncanson and the Emergence of the African American Artist. Cincinnati Art Museum and Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH (September 15--November 26, 1995); Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis, MO (January 26--March 31, 1996); Amon Carter Museum, Ft. Worth,TX (April 20--June 16, 1996); Hammonds House Gardens and Clark Atlanta University Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA (July 19--September 15, 1996).

Long Term Loan. Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 2007-June 2009).

Bold, Cautious, True: Walt Whitman and the American Art of the Civil War Era. The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN (July 5-October 4, 2009); Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY (October 18, 2009-January 24, 2010); The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA (June 2-August 26, 2012).

Long Term Loan. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT (December 12, 2012-January 2014).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Vale of Kashmir|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/2014.12|author=Robert S. Duncanson|year=1867|access-date=23 March 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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