Robert S. Duncanson

American painter

Robert Seldon Duncanson (c. 1821 – December 21, 1872) was a 19th century American landscapist of European and African ancestry. Inspired by famous American landscape artists like Thomas Cole, Duncanson created renowned landscape paintings and is considered a second generation Hudson River School artist. Duncanson is considered the first African American artist to be internationally known. while others, like Margaret Rose Vendryes, discourage viewers from approaching his art with a racialized perspective.

Robert Seldon Duncanson was born in Fayette, New York, in about 1821. Duncanson was one of the five sons of John Dean Duncanson (c. 1777 – 1851), a free black tradesman, and Lucy Nickles (c. 1782 – 1854). John Dean's father, Charles Duncanson, was a former slave from Virginia who was freed from bondage by his owner. Charles received special privileges, including his emancipation and the opportunity to learn a skilled trade, because he was likely the illegitimate son of his owner. In Monroe, John Dean found considerable success working as a housepainter and a carpenter. Duncanson lived in Mt. Healthy with the Reuben Graham family who were also descendants of Virginian slaves. The community of Mt. Healthy, like Cincinnati, had a substantial free black population. In the nineteenth century, Cincinnati was considered a southern' town on free soil”. Cincinnati was a fast growing city—the city’s population grew from 43,000 to 115,000 between 1840 and 1850. In particular, Cincinnati attracted many freed or escape slaves in search of a new community. The city hosted one of the largest African American communities in the U. S.

Duncanson was primarily attracted to Cincinnati for its strong arts community. It was also referred to as the "emporium of the West" by its free black population who had much greater access to opportunities of advancement there than in other parts of antebellum America.(p. 15) While Duncanson's work was accepted into the show, and was well received, it is likely that Duncanson was not allowed to take art classes at the Academy because of his race. This exhibition served as his public debut to the art world, but none of Duncanson’s family members were permitted to attend the show because of their race. His mother, while unable to attend the show, is reported to have said “I know what they look like I know that they are there! That’s the important thing.”

Taking a short break from portrait work, Duncanson collaborated with another artist, photographer Coates. Together, on March 19, 1844, Coates and Duncanson advertised a spectacle of "Chemical Paintings comprising four splendid views after the singular style of Daguerre.” Portrait commissions in Detroit were forthcoming. Duncanson received his most substantial portrait commission by the Berthelet family, a prominent Detroit family. After completing Cliff Mine, Lake Superior (1848) for Charles Avery, Duncanson pursued landscape painting in earnest. Along with two other Cincinnati artists, T. Worthington Whittredge and William Louis Sonntag, Duncanson became inspired by the work of the Hudson River School artists and aspired to paint the American landscape. Together, the three artists set out on a series of sketching trips around the country to provide them with the necessary material and inspiration to bring back to their Cincinnati studios. In order to accomplish this, he turned to Thomas Cole, copying many of his works dealing with paradise and drawing parallels between the imaginary lands painted and America. In 1851, Duncanson's created one more well known landscape paintings from this time period, Blue Hole, Flood Waters, Miami River. In 1853, Duncanson embarked on the traditional "grand tour" of Europe, completed by many contemporary artists, which exposed him to the art world and provided inspiration for many of his future landscape works. In 1861, Duncanson created his "greatest work": Land of the Lotus Eaters.

Duncanson's success as an artist is partially attributed to the many abolitionist patrons who supported him. Additionally, abolitionists would often commission works with overtly racial themes in order to further the antislavery cause.

Robert Duncanson’s Uncle Tom and Little Eva, painted in 1853, is housed at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Many abolitionists would commission works that explicitly portrayed the contemporary racial issues. Some art historians, such as Joseph D. Ketner, believe that Duncanson intended to make an indictment of the institution of slavery by depicting this delicate yet profound scene from Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Canadians thought of Duncanson as one of “the earliest of our professional cultivators of the fine arts.” Richard Powell of American Visions says that Duncanson’s success is a “victory over society’s presumptions of what African American artist should create.” Duncanson became nationally and internationally known for his landscape paintings modeled after the Hudson River School tradition, and is credited with developing the regional Ohio River Valley art form. Ketner asserts that Duncanson's artworks are representations of his cultural and racial identity. Vendryes argues that Duncanson did not explicitly represent contemporary racial issues in his work, and warns viewers from interpreting Duncanson and his art solely through the lens of his race, as it may limit the viewer's understanding of his work. Since 1986, the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, Ohio has maintained an artist in residence program for contemporary African American artists in honor of Duncanson.