Overview

The Susquehanna Art Museum will showcase Visions of the Susquehanna, an exhibition featuring 250 years of paintings of the Susquehanna River, from October 12 –December 30, 2006. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Thursday, October 12 from 5-7PM. Exhibition curator, Rob Evans, will offer a brief gallery talk at the reception. The opening reception is free and open to the public.

Comprised of approximately 40 major paintings spanning nearly 250 years, Visions of the Susquehanna will include two groups of work. The first is a cross section of the many important images of the river created in the mid 18th century through the early 20th century, with works by such prominent American painters as Joshua Shaw, Sanford Robinson Gifford, George Lafayette Clough, Lloyd Mifflin, Stephen Etnier and others. The other group will consist of paintings of or about the river by a group of nationally prominent contemporary artists (Mark Innerst, Leonard Koscianski, George Sorrels, Debra Bermingham, Randall Exon, Peter Paone, Dozier Bell, Raoul Middleman, Mark Workman, Rob Evans, Matthew Daub, and others).

While linked by the common thread of the Susquehanna, the exhibit will also examine the contrasting points of view between these two very different groups of work: the 18th and 19th century romantic view of the sublime landscape as a metaphor for America's promise versus the current postmodern role of the landscape as an open ended and often detached vehicle for presenting a multitude of perspectives and critiques on contemporary culture.

This traveling exhibition was curated by Rob Evans, Wrightsville in conjunction with the Lancaster Museum of Art. An 80 page soft-cover exhibition catalog is available featuring essays by David J. Dearinger, Susan Morse Hilles Curator of Paintings and Sculpture, Boston Athenaeum, and Leo G. Mazow, Curator of American Art, Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University.

Visions of the Susquehanna is sponsored by Cordier Antiques & Fine Art (Camp Hill, PA), Pinnacle Health Systems, and the Joseph T. Simpson and Helen M. Simpson Foundation.
This exhibit has been awarded a major grant from the Richard C. von Hess Foundation and is supported in part by a grant from PicturePA.

The exhibition will continue to:

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