View at Catskill Falls
Item
Title
View at Catskill Falls
Creator
John Rubens Smith
American, b. England, 1775–1849
American, b. England, 1775–1849
Date
1841
Materials
Watercolor on paper
Description
John Rubens Smith immigrated to the United States in 1806 and lived at various points in Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia. He specialized in city and landscape views in the manner of this watercolor, showing the pedestrian traffic above the famous waterfall of the Catskills in New York. The site, fashioned with an observation platform by the mid-1820s, was a mecca for leisure and already in danger, as Smith’s image suggests, of being overrun by sightseers. An influential instructor of drawing, Smith also authored The Juvenile Drawing Book (1822) and A Key to the Art of Drawing the Human Figure (1831), two early drawing manuals in America.
Source
The John Driscoll American Drawings Collection
Identifier
2018.194
Rights
This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses may not be permitted.