New Terrains: American Paintings from the Richard M. Scaife Bequest

April 08, 2016 - September 10, 2017

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916). The Tow Path, n. d. Oil on canvas, 10 x 14 1/2 in. Bequest of Richard M. Scaife, 2016

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902). Coast of California, n.d. Oil on paper mounted to canvas, 14 x 19 in. Bequest of Richard M. Scaife, 2016

Theodore Robinson (1852-1896). Yacht Club Basin, Cos Cob Harbor, 1894. Oil on wood panel, 10 x 13 1/2 in. Brandywine River Museum of Art. Bequest of Richard M. Scaife, 2016

J. Alden Weir (1852-1919). Misty Landscape, n. d. Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 in. Bequest of  Richard M. Scaife, 2016

New Terrains presents over twenty-five important works of American art from Richard M. Scaife, a Pittsburgh philanthropist and former trustee of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.

The exhibition showcases paintings by artists who are new to the collection, such as Hudson River School painters Martin Johnson Heade, John Kensett, and Albert Bierstadt, whose luminous, contemplative views of nature influenced the grand tradition of mid-nineteenth-century landscape painting in America. Other exciting introductions to the collection through the Scaife bequest are works by American Impressionists William Merritt Chase, Theodore Robinson, Edward Redfield, Julian Alden Weir and others. These late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century artists changed the course of American landscape painting through their adaptation of trends in European art. Their interpretive approach to rendering their surroundings with vibrant color and energetic brushwork is amply demonstrated in the exhibition. These paintings and more featured in New Terrains honor Richard Scaife and his generous vision for the Brandywine and represent a milestone in the museum’s collection of American art.