Robert S. Duncanson
Born: New York 1821
Died: Detroit, Michigan 1872
Title: < Vesuvius and Pompeii: oil on canvas painting>
Robert Duncanson was a landscape and portrait painter.
Duncanson received no technical training but, instead, was determined to break into the exclusive Caucasian art community and taught himself art by painting portraits and copying prints.
In 1842 Duncanson had three portraits accepted to the last exhibition of the former Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts.
This served as his public debut to the art world, however, this success also came with a dose of reality.
No one in Duncanson’s family, not even his mother, was allowed to attend the show because they were black. According to his mother, the most important thing was that she knew what his paintings looked like and she knew they were there.
Duncanson spent a significant amount of time in Italy, and painted several views of Pompeii.
The above oil on canvas painting, depicts Pompeii’s dramatic history.
The lure of Mount Vesuvius’ still violent, potential volcanic eruptions brought many artists to the area in the nineteenth century.
The painting shows the remains of an amphitheater, with Vesuvius smoking in the background, with men in eighteenth-century costumes looking at the ruins, and searching for buried treasure.
Duncanson said, “I have no color on the brain; all I have on the brain is paint.”
This highlights his laid-back approach to racial tensions that the art world had not seen before.
Duncanson made several trips to Scotland, probably inspired by his father’s Scottish heritage.
He created romantic wilderness views displayed by this oil on canvas painting.
In the painting above, with its warm colors and rich vegetation make a remote scene appear welcoming, and would have appealed to the sentimental tastes of his American patrons.
Born in the U.S and raised in Canada, the Canadian landscape greatly influenced Duncanson, and is evident in many of his works.
In 1865 he left Canada for England and Scotland.
In Europe, his work was well received and the prestigious London Art Journal declared him a master of landscape painting.
This oil on canvas painting of Scotland is the architectural exterior of a castle in a very rural area.
The castle is on top of a mountain which implies power and wealth of its owners.
The landscape shows a lake with a sailboat and perhaps the owners of the castle on a picnic.
Duncanson would make the people very small, fitting with his trademark of being subtle.
Duncanson’s success is a victory over society’s presumptions of what African American artists should create. His artwork has become a useful tool in teaching art students about the history of African-American artists.