An Old Man's Reminiscences

Asher B. Durand

(1796-1886)
Oil on canvas, 1845
AIHA Collection: Gift of the Gallery of Fine Arts

An Old Man's Reminiscences is a tapestry of nostalgic, idealistic memories painted during the height of the industrialization of America. From the shelter of the woods, an old man gazes out upon scenes that were typical of rural agrarian life in the Northeast in the first half of the 19th century. Children are playing hoop and other games in fields near the schoolhouse. Cattle graze near the bank of the stream and farmers are haying. Two men fish in the stream, and a young couple sit under a tree.

Durand and Thomas Cole were close friends, and they often hiked and sketched together in the Catskill and Adirondack Mountains. Upon Cole's death in 1848, Durand became the acknowledged leader of the Hudson River School and was an active member of the artistic community throughout his career.

Morning, Looking East Over the Hudson Valley from the Catskill Mountains

 by Frederic Church

Lake Winnepesaukee

  by Thomas Cole

Ruined Tower

 by Thomas Cole

Dawn of Morning, Lake George

 by Jasper Francis Cropsey

An Old Man's Reminiscences

 by Asher D. Durand

Distant View of Albany

 by William M. Hart

The Adirondacks

 by James McDonald Hart

Storm King on the Hudson

 by Homer Dodge Martin