A Home in the Wilderness
1866
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1866
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see a quiet river winding through green hills, a small log cabin on the left bank, and a man in a canoe bringing supplies. Gifford painted this scene just after the Civil War, when America was pushing westward. The cabin feels new—tree stumps still dot the clearing—yet the mountains look untouched. It’s a moment of human arrival in wild land, neither triumphant nor sad. To see how other artists showed America’s landscapes, look up the subject *america, american*.
