Painter, born in Greenfield, New York, USA. He studied at the National Academy of Design (c.1845), and was influenced by the work of Thomas Cole. A founder of the American luminism school of painting, he specialized in the effects of light, as seen in his major work, Kauterskill Falls (1862).
Sanford Robinson Gifford (July 10, 1823 – August 29, 1880) was an American landscape painter and one of the leading members of the Hudson River School. Gifford's landscapes are known for their emphasis on light and soft atmospheric effects, and he is regarded as a practitioner of Luminism, an offshoot style of the Hudson River School.
Childhood / early career
Gifford spent his childhood in Hudson, New York, the son of an iron foundry owner. By 1847 he was sufficiently skilled at painting to exhibit his first landscape at the National Academy of Design in New York and was elected an associate in 1851, an academician in 1854. Thereafter Gifford devoted himself to landscape painting, becoming one of the finest artists of the early Hudson River School.
Gifford's travels
Like most Hudson River School artists, Gifford traveled extensively to find scenic landscapes to sketch and paint. In addition to exploring New England and upstate New York, Gifford made extensive trips abroad.
In the studio
Returning to his studio in New York City, Gifford painted numerous major landscapes from scenes he recorded on his travels. Gifford's method of creating a work of art was similar to other Hudson River School artists.
"Chief pictures"
Gifford referred to the best of his landscapes as his "chief pictures". Gifford often painted a large body of water in the foreground or middle distance, in which the distant landscape would be gently reflected. Examples of Gifford's "chief pictures" in museum collections today include:
Lake Nemi (1856-57), Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio The Wilderness (1861), Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio A Passing Storm (1866), Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut Ruins of the Parthenon (1880), Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.Gifford's death
On August 29, 1880, Gifford died in New York City, having been diagnosed with malarial fever. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City celebrated his life that autumn with a memorial exhibition of 160 paintings.
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