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At Home and Abroad: The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch

October 12, 2007 through February 25, 2008

Listen to Helen Harrison’s review of the Cranch exhibition on “Art Waves” which aired on December 6, 2007 on 88.3 FM WLIU’s “In the Morning with Bonnie Grice.”

 

Transparent Eyeball (from Emerson’s “Nature”) From Cranch’s “Scraps” book, Ink on paper c.1839 9 ¾ x 7 5/8 inches, Private collection
Transparent Eyeball (from Emerson’s “Nature”) From Cranch’s “Scraps” book, Ink on paper c.1839 9 ¾ x 7 5/8 inches, Private collection
Niagara: American Falls: Oil on canvas 1853 17” x 23” Private collection
Niagara: American Falls: Oil on canvas 1853 17” x 23” Private collection
Landscape with Waterfall: Oil on canvas 1851 36” x 54” Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, Delaware
Landscape with Waterfall: Oil on canvas 1851 36” x 54” Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, Delaware

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite a fifty-year career as a landscape painter, Christopher Cranch’s paintings are little known. Instead, he is best known for his poetry, his ties to the New England Transcendentalists, and, above all, his playful caricature of Ralph Waldo Emerson as an enormous “transparent” eyeball, perched atop a minuscule body in top hat and tails, optic nerve tied in a pony tail. From his first reading of Emerson’s Nature essay (1836), Cranch was inspired to explore Transcendental concepts through visual means; although ultimately it was painting, not caricature, that provided the ideal vehicle for him. Transcribing nature onto canvas became an act of devotion. Like Thoreau writing of the daily trials of life on Walden Pond, Cranch also attempted, in his landscapes, to express the correspondence between nature and spiritual concepts. His brand of Transcendentalism bypasses the quiet, “transparent” aspect to celebrate a nature that is filled with the flux and continual shifting that Emerson and Thoreau also celebrated in their writings. C. P. Cranch was intimate with some of the most innovative thinkers in America and counted among his friends Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George William Curtis, and James Russell Lowell. This study considers Cranch not only as a Hudson River School artist, but also as a participant in the history of ideas, a multi-faceted individual who merged intellectual and artistic life.

The exhibition is accompanied by a 208-page exhibition catalogue; At Home and Abroad: The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813 – 1892). The Foreword is written by Barbara Novak, Professor Emerita at Columbia University, one of the most influential theorists on American art. Nancy Stula, Curator and Deputy Director of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, and David M. Robinson, Distinguished Professor of American Literature at Oregon State University authored the catalogue essays.

After closing at Lyman Allyn Art Museum, the show will travel to the Newington-Cropsey Foundation in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, where it will be on view March 17 through May 31, 2008.

At Home and Abroad: The Transcendental Landscapes of Christopher Pearse Cranch has been made possible by generous grants from the Connecticut Humanities Council and the Henry Luce Foundation.

This exhibition is also supported in part by the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Bank of America, Trustee, and with support from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism. Eli Wilner & Company Period Frames, New York has provided numerous frames.

Filed Under: Exhibitions, Past Exhibitions

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Monday: CLOSED
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We are located just off I-95. Take Exit 83 and follow the cultural attraction signs.

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6:00 PM - Thames River Heritage Park Lecture- The Plant Family: Gilded Age Gossip, Gifting and the (Income) Gap
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11:00 AM - Free First Saturday
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6:00 PM - Exhibition Discussion: The Circle Game at the Mystic Noank Library
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5:30 PM - Chromatopia Gallery Talk
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6:00 PM - Thames River Heritage Park Lecture- Love and Brutality: The Mysterious Saga of Gallows Road
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2:00 PM - Alexandra Stoddard Exhibition Opening
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6:30 PM - Night at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum - February
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1:00 PM - Harriet Tubman: A Woman with a Railroad
5
Thames River Heritage Park Lecture- The Plant Family: Gilded Age Gossip, Gifting and the (Income) Gap
Thames River Heritage Park Lecture- The Plant Family: Gilded Age Gossip, Gifting and the (Income) Gap
Wednesday, January 4, 2023    
6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
  • Lecture
  • Special Event
Registration after 12/29: $15 Members / $20 Non-members The Lyman Allyn Art Museum will host Thames River Heritage Park’s winter lecture series, “Stories from the [...]
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Free First Saturday
Free First Saturday
Saturday, January 7, 2023    
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Lyman Allyn Museum
  • Children's Programs
  • Special Event
Join us in the art studio from 11 am - 1 pm and create your own Print of an Egyptian Symbol! While you're here, explore [...]
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Exhibition Discussion: The Circle Game at the Mystic Noank Library
Exhibition Discussion: The Circle Game at the Mystic Noank Library
Tuesday, January 10, 2023    
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
  • Lecture
Join the Lyman Allyn Art Museum at the Mystic Noank Library for a lecture on the new exhibition, The Circle Game, on display at the [...]
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Chromatopia Gallery Talk
Chromatopia Gallery Talk
Wednesday, January 18, 2023    
5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
  • Lecture
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Color is all around us, but what do we really know about it? Join Director of Exhibitions Jane LeGrow for an engaging look at how [...]
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Science Saturday
Science Saturday
Saturday, January 21, 2023    
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Lyman Allyn Museum
  • Children's Programs
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This fun drop-in program, designed for children ages 7-11, encourages participants to explore the intersections between art and science. January 21: Beautiful Banjos TWANG! Learn about [...]
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Thames River Heritage Park Lecture- Love and Brutality: The Mysterious Saga of Gallows Road
Thames River Heritage Park Lecture- Love and Brutality: The Mysterious Saga of Gallows Road
Wednesday, January 25, 2023    
6:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
  • Lecture
  • Special Event
Registration after 1/19: $15 Members / $20 Non-members The Lyman Allyn Art Museum will host Thames River Heritage Park’s winter lecture series, “Stories from the [...]
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Alexandra Stoddard Exhibition Opening
Alexandra Stoddard Exhibition Opening
Friday, January 27, 2023    
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
  • Exhibition Opening
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Join us in celebrating the opening of Alexandra Stoddard: A Colorful Life. See this pop-up exhibition, meet Alexandra Stoddard, and enjoy coffee, tea, and light [...]
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Night at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum - February
Night at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum - February
Thursday, February 2, 2023    
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
  • Special Event
Grab your friends and join us for drinks and art-making on the first Thursday of every month! Tickets include two drinks, light bites, and creative [...]
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Free First Saturday
Free First Saturday
Saturday, February 4, 2023    
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Lyman Allyn Museum
  • Children's Programs
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Join us in the art studio from 11 am - 1 pm and create your own portrait of our "Heroes in History"! Celebrate Black History [...]
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Harriet Tubman: A Woman with a Railroad
Harriet Tubman: A Woman with a Railroad
Saturday, February 4, 2023    
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Lyman Allyn Museum
  • Children's Programs
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Presented by Adwoa Bandele-Asante Join us for an interesting and interactive afternoon of learning with a live performance of Harriet Tubman: A Woman with a Railroad [...]
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Events on Wednesday, January 4, 2023
Thames River Heritage Park Lecture- The Plant Family: Gilded Age Gossip, Gifting and the (Income) Gap
Thames River Heritage Park Lecture- The Plant Family: Gilded Age Gossip, Gifting and the (Income) Gap
4 Jan 23
New London
Events on Saturday, January 7, 2023
Free First Saturday
Free First Saturday
7 Jan 23
New London
Events on Tuesday, January 10, 2023
Exhibition Discussion: The Circle Game at the Mystic Noank Library
Exhibition Discussion: The Circle Game at the Mystic Noank Library
10 Jan 23
Events on Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Chromatopia Gallery Talk
Chromatopia Gallery Talk
18 Jan 23
New London
Events on Saturday, January 21, 2023
Science Saturday
Science Saturday
21 Jan 23
New London
Events on Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Thames River Heritage Park Lecture- Love and Brutality: The Mysterious Saga of Gallows Road
Thames River Heritage Park Lecture- Love and Brutality: The Mysterious Saga of Gallows Road
25 Jan 23
New London
Events on Friday, January 27, 2023
Alexandra Stoddard Exhibition Opening
Alexandra Stoddard Exhibition Opening
27 Jan 23
Events on Thursday, February 2, 2023
Night at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum - February
Night at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum - February
2 Feb 23
New London
Events on Saturday, February 4, 2023
Free First Saturday
Free First Saturday
4 Feb 23
New London
Harriet Tubman: A Woman with a Railroad
Harriet Tubman: A Woman with a Railroad
4 Feb 23
New London

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