Robert Swain Gifford (December 23, 1840 – January 15, 1905) was an American landscape painter. He was influenced by the

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name ...

Early life and education

Gifford was born on

Nonamesset Island Nonamesset Island is the most easterly of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The island has a land area of 1.398 km² (0.54 sq mi or 345.5 acres) and was uninhabited as of the United States Census, 2000, 2000 ...

, in the

Elizabeth Islands The Elizabeth Islands are a chain of small islands extending southwest from the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the United States. They are located at the outer edge of Buzzards Bay, north of Martha's Vineyard, from which they are ...

, When he was 2 he moved with his family to the New Bedford area, and he attended public schools in New Bedford. When Gifford was a teen, the Dutch painter Albertus Van Beest arrived in New Bedford, and the two collaborated on ship paintings.

Career

Gifford opened a studio in Boston in 1864. Two years later he moved to New York City. In 1867 he was named an Associate of the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

and in 1878 he became a full member. He travelled and painted in Oregon and California, then left for Europe, where he visited Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain. Before returning to the U.S. he travelled to Morocco and Egypt. He was joined by fellow artists such as

Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...

, and painted some subjects from those regions. Much of his work focuses on the landscapes of

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

. He, along with Victorian contemporaries from the White Mountain and

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

s, helped immortalize the majestic cliffs of

Grand Manan Grand Manan is a Canadian island in the Bay of Fundy. Grand Manan is also the name of an incorporated village, which includes the main island and all of its adjacent islands, except White Head Island. It is governed as a village and is part of t ...

in the Bay of Fundy. His painting from the island, ''Pettes Cove'', is illustrative of his masterful marine work. In 1867, he was elected into the

as an Associate member and became a full member in 1878. In 1876 he was a medal winner at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and at the International Exposition in Paris in 1889. In 1899, he was an artist on the famous Harriman Alaska Expedition. Gifford died at his home in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1905. Some of his works hang in the most prominent galleries in the USA, including the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum,

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. He was a member of the

Society of American Artists The Society of American Artists was an American artists group. It was formed in 1877 by artists who felt the National Academy of Design did not adequately meet their needs, and was too conservative. The group began meeting in 1874 at the home of ...

Gallery

Oil paintings

File:Brooklyn Museum - Seconnet Rock, New Bedford, Massachusetts - Robert Swain Gifford - overall.jpg, ''Seconnet Rock, New Bedford, Massachusetts'' (circa 1865) oil on canvas, 36 x 56.3 cm (14.1 x 22.1 in), Brooklyn Museum, New York City File:Robert Swain Gifford - Near the Ocean - 1909.7.26 - Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg, ''Near the Ocean'' (1879) oil on canvas, 57.1 x 102.8 cm (22.5 x 40.5 in), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. File:Brooklyn Museum - Trees and Meadow - Robert Swain Gifford - overall.jpg, ''Trees and Meadow'' (circa 1885) oil on canvas, 30.3 x 60.6 cm (11.9 x 23.8 in), Brooklyn Museum, New York City

Prints

File:Robert Swain Gifford - Mouth of the Apponaganasett River - 1968.183 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg, ''Mouth of the Apponaganasett River'' (1883) etching, plate size 18.9 x 28.8 cm (7 7/16 x 11 5/16 in.), Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio File:Robert Swain Gifford - Harlingen - 1941.124 - Cleveland Museum of Art.jpg, ''Harlingen'' (1884) etching, size unknown, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio File:Robert Swain Gifford, Neapolitan Fishing Boats Returning Home, 1884, NGA 148844.jpg, ''Neapolitan Fishing Boats Returning Home'' (1884) etching and drypoint, plate size 27.6 x 43 cm. (10.8 x 16.5 in.), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. File:Robert Swain Gifford, Near the Coast (large plate), 1886, NGA 148200.jpg, ''Near the Coast'', large plate (1886) etching, plate: 17.4 × 27.1 cm (6 7/8 × 10 11/16 in.), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

References

External links

*
Biography of Gifford
on the Smithsonian site
Image of Gifford's Near the Coast
on the Metropolitan Museum of Art site {{DEFAULTSORT:Gifford, Robert Swain 1840 births 1905 deaths 19th-century American painters 20th-century American painters American landscape painters American male painters National Academy of Design members Orientalist painters Painters from Massachusetts People from Grand Manan People from Dukes County, Massachusetts 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists