Whiteface in the White Mountains

Inscriptions

Signed and dated lower right: S.L. GERRY. / 1849

Label

Whiteface in the White Mountains depicts a littleknown peak that lies near Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, and dominates what was then a relatively unpopulated region. In this painting, however, Samuel Lancaster Gerry suggests the area’s accessibility. We see two well-dressed men fishing along a nearly level stream under fair skies, with grazing cattle, a calm body of water, and Mount Whiteface in the distance. In contrast to earlier American landscapists, Gerry does not represent nature as a sublime, somewhat threatening force to be reckoned with, but instead as a site for recreation and renewal. Such paintings helped to advertise the White Mountains as a picturesque destination for sportsmen and tourists.

From the 2019 exhibition American Art, Colonial to Modern, curated by Barbara J. MacAdam, Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art

Course History

WRIT 5, Writing into the Wilderness: Vox Clamantis in Deserto, Nancy Crumbine, Fall 2015

WRIT 5, Writing into the Wilderness: Vox Clamantis in Deserto, Nancy Crumbine, Fall 2015

WRIT 5, Writing into the Wilderness, Nancy Crumbine, Winter 2016

WRIT 5, Writing into the Wilderness, Nancy Crumbine, Winter 2016

Exhibition History

A Sweet Foretaste of Heaven: Artists in the White Mountains, 1830-1930, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.

American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-December 9, 2007.

American Art, Colonial to Modern, Israel Sack Gallery and Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019-September 12, 2021.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 13, 2004-August 24, 2006.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 7, 2010.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 2, 2009-November 2, 2009.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 26, 1996-June 22, 1997.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 16, 1997-September 14, 2003.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouthh College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 12, 1990-June 1, 1993.

Publication History

Robert L. McGrath and Barbara J. MacAdam, A Sweet Foretaste of Heaven: Artists in the White Mountains, 1830-1930. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College. Catlaogue Number 9, page 49 (illustration)

Catherine H. Campbell. New Hampshire Scenery... New Hampshire Historical Society, page 69

Robert L. McGrath, Gods in Granite: The Art of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2001, 216 p., ill. p. 148, ill. no. 105.

Barbara J. MacAdam, American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Muesum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 37, no. 18.

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Subjects