Kindred Spirits (painting)
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''Kindred Spirits'' (1849) is a painting by
Asher Brown Durand Asher Brown Durand (August 21, 1796, – September 17, 1886) was an American painter of the Hudson River School. Early life Durand was born in, and eventually died in, Maplewood, New Jersey (then called Jefferson Village). He was the eight ...
, a member of the
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 ...
of painters. It depicts the painter
Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history painti ...
, who had died in 1848, and his friend, the poet
William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the ''New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poetry ...
, in the Catskill Mountains. The landscape painting, which combines geographical features in
Kaaterskill Clove Kaaterskill Clove is a deep gorge, or valley, in New York's eastern Catskill Mountains, lying just west of the village of Palenville and in Haines Falls. The clove was formed by Kaaterskill Creek, a tributary of Catskill Creek rising west o ...
and a minuscule depiction of
Kaaterskill Falls Kaaterskill Falls is a two-stage waterfall on Spruce Creek in the eastern Catskill Mountains of New York, between the hamlets of Haines Falls and Palenville in Greene County. The two cascades total 260 feet (79 m) in height, making Kaaterskil ...
, is not a literal depiction of American geography. Rather, it is an idealized memory of Cole's discovery of the region more than twenty years prior, his friendship with Bryant, and his ideas about American nature. ''Kindred Spirit'' is exhibited in the
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...
in
Bentonville, Arkansas Bentonville is the tenth-largest city in Arkansas, United States and the county seat of Benton County. The city is centrally located in the county with Rogers adjacent to the east. The city is the birthplace of and world headquarters locatio ...
.


History

The painting was commissioned by New York art collector and advocate
Jonathan Sturges Jonathan Sturges (August 23, 1740 – October 4, 1819) was an American lawyer, jurist and politician from Fairfield, Connecticut. He represented Connecticut as a delegate to the Continental Congress and in the United States House of Repr ...
as a gift to Bryant who in May 1848 had presented a eulogy for the painter Cole (who had unexpectedly died in February of that year). Sturges explained the gift by writing: ::::::Soon after you ryantdelivered your oration in the life and death of our lamented friend Cole, ::::::I requested Mr. Durand to paint a picture in which he should associate our departed friend and ::::::yourself as kindred spirits. ... I hope that you will accept the picture from me as a token of ::::::gratitude for the labor of love performed on that occasion. ::::::::::::::::::::— Letter from Sturges to Bryant Within days of receiving the painting, Bryant wrote thank you notes to both Sturges and Durand expressing his praise for the work. Bryant described his first impression of the gift to Durand, writing, "I was more delighted with it than I can express, and am under very great obligations to you for having put so much of your acknowledged genius into a work intended for me." He continued on to state that "the painting seems to me in your best manner, which is the highest praise." According to Bryant, visitors to his home admired the painting too. "Every body admires it greatly," he wrote, "and places it high as a work of art." A few weeks after the painting was delivered to Bryant, it was exhibited at the National Academy of Design. While there it received high praise in the press and periodicals. By then it was known as, ''Kindred Spirits'', a title inspired by John Keats' "Sonnet to Solitude." ::::::Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind, :::::::::Whose words are images of thought refin’d, ::::::Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must be :::::::::Almost the highest bliss of human-kind, ::::::When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee. In 1904, Bryant's daughter Julia donated the painting to the New York Public Library. In 2005, it was sold at auction to
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
heiress Alice Walton for $35 million, a record for a painting by an American artist. The Library was criticized for "jettisoning part of the city's cultural patrimony," but the Library defended its move stating it needed the money for its endowment fund. The painting was on display at the National Gallery of Art between 2005 and 2007. Currently, the painting is held in the
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...
in
Bentonville, Arkansas Bentonville is the tenth-largest city in Arkansas, United States and the county seat of Benton County. The city is centrally located in the county with Rogers adjacent to the east. The city is the birthplace of and world headquarters locatio ...
.


Composition

At its heart, ''Kindred Spirits'' is a memory piece. Durand, a friend of both Cole and Bryant, depicted his friends in their companionate stance in a location they both expressed in their creative pieces. Cole would depict the area beginning in 1826 with his painting ''Kaaterskill Falls'' and the area soon became an icon of the burgeoning American landscape painting. Bryant, poet and newspaper editor, would poetically capture the Kaaterskill in his poem "Caaterskill Falls." Combining two locations—Kaaterskill Falls and the Clove—in an idealized format, the painting illustrates the idea of communing with Nature. As kindred spirits, Cole and Bryant both shared a passion for the American landscape. In the summer of 1840, Bryant explored the Kaaterskill area of the Catskills with Cole. Standing on the ledge looking out towards the valley, the paintings’ figures of Bryant and Cole illustrate Cole's 1836 description: ::::::“…in gazing on the pure creations of the Almighty, he feels a calm religious tone steal through ::::::his mind, and when he has turned to mingle with his fellow men, the chords which have been ::::::struck in the sweet communion cease not to vibrate.” :::::::::::::::::::— Essay on American Scenery Durand included the names of these kindred spirits within the landscape itself by carving in paint their names into the birch tree on the left side of the painting. By painting Cole and Bryant together in ''Kindred Spirits'', Durand created a visual record of the relationship between the art and literary circles of the early nineteenth century, as well as their common beliefs toward the American landscape and Nature. Today, ''Kindred Spirits'' has come to symbolize both the
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 ...
and its era's culture. Conceived as a memory piece for Cole, ''Kindred Spirits'' may now be said to be a visual memory of the era in which it was created. The painting is part of the permanent collection at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.


In popular culture

In his 1998 book '' A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail'',
Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has b ...
describes his love for the painting and how he would love to jump into the scene depicted.
Marianne Moore Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. Early life Moore was born in Kirkwood ...
references the painting in her poem "The Camperdown Elm". The painting was included in the game ''
Civilization V ''Sid Meier's Civilization V'' is a 4X video game in the ''Civilization'' series developed by Firaxis Games. The game was released on Microsoft Windows on September 21, 2010, on OS X on November 23, 2010, and on Linux on June 10, 2014. In ...
''. Players have a chance to view it upon completing a Great Artist. The painting is mentioned in Brad Watson's short story "Kindred Spirits" in his collection, ''The Last of the Dog-Men.''


References


External links


''American paradise: the world of the Hudson River school''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on ''Kindred Spirits'' (see index)
National Gallery of Art press release
{{italic title Hudson River School paintings 1849 paintings Collection of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art