From depictions of forested and mountainous wilderness to rural communities, this installation explores the evolving face of the natural environment in the visual arts. The artworks in this section include nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings of America and Europe rendered in a range of styles, from the “idealized naturalism” of the Hudson River School to the expressive, boldly colored brushwork of Fauvism. Some works capture picturesque places far from bustling cities, while others depict charming villages or even fantastical landscapes imagined by the artist.
Image Credits:
Thomas Cole, An Italian Autumn (detail), ca. 1844-1847, oil on canvas, 32 x 48 in., Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Museum purchase with funds from the James C. and Virginia W. Meade Collections Endowment, the Meade Acquisition Fund, and the Beaux Arts Society Fund for Acquisitions, 2019.001, photo © Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Oscar Brousse Jacobson, The Needles, Colorado Desert (detail), ca. 1923, oil on canvas, 29 × 36 in., Oklahoma City Museum of Art, gift of the Oklahoma Art League, 1966.013, Image by Google
Hans Hofmann, Provincetown Number One (detail), 1937, oil on board, 25 × 30 in., Oklahoma City Museum of Art, museum purchase from the Beaux Arts Society Fund for Acquisitions, 1976.005, © Hans Hofmann Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, photo © Oklahoma City Museum of Art
