George Inness--the Complete Works

The works of George Inness are found online at http://www.georgeinness.org/ . Scans of 199 of his paintings can be found there. Inness made his home for many years in Montclair, New Jersey, and many of his paintings can still be seen there at the Montclair Art Museum.

Pompton Junction

Inness's Lackawanna Valley

The Lackawanna Valley, ca. 1855
George Inness

We mentioned the painting by George Inness of The Lackawanna Valley in class last week. The painting has been much-discussed by art critics who study landscape art. A particularly thorough study is Nicolai Cikovsky's 1970 article, "George Inness and the Hudson River School: The Lackawanna Valley," which appeared in American Art Journal.

In the article Cikovsky repeats Inness's story of finding the original in a Mexican pawn shop in 1891 (p. 48), and much of the latter third of the article is devoted to interpreting the painting itself. This is a nice example of how a single painting could provide the occasion for a solid term paper in this course.

Anyway, the Cikovsky article is well-worth reading if you have the time or interest. The full citation is:

Cikovsky, Nicolai Jr. "George Inness and the Hudson River School: "The Lackawanna Valley"." American Art Journal 2, no. 2, Autumn (1970): 36-57.