Gilbert Munger: Quest for Distinction

Gilbert Munger (1837-1903) achieved enormous artistic success by depicting recently discovered western landscapes with an accuracy and style admired by both scientists and art connoisseurs. By the 1870s his talent and keen eye had carried him to top of the New York and San Francisco art markets. But his decline was equally dramatic; when he died at age 65, he was an almost forgotten man.

This landmark study reestablishes the artist’s place in the history of American landscape painting. His early works are painted in the realistic style of the Hudson River School, while his later pictures are suffused with the atmosphere and color of J. M. W. Turner, or the rural repose and historic air of Barbizon.