The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 6, 2023

Graves of Travellers, Fort Kearny, Nebraska

1866

Worthington Whittredge

(American, 1820–1910)

America, 19th century

Oil on paper mounted on canvas

Unframed: 18.8 x 56.5 cm (7 3/8 x 22 1/4 in.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1969.19

Location

not on view

Description

In the foreground appear the graves of settlers who died on the difficult journey to the American West. This oil sketch was made by the artist on an expedition to the Rocky Mountains and later formed the basis of a painting executed in New York (now in the G. W. V. Smith Art Museum, Springfield, Mass.).

Inscriptions

Inscription

Inscribed lower right: "Fort Kearney June 1866"

Provenance
(R. Schoelkopf, New York)
Exhibition history

Spokane, International Exposition, Our Land, Our Sky, Our Water: An Exhibition of American & Canadian Art (4 May-3 November 1974), cat. no. 48 as Graves of Travellers, Fort Kearney, Nebraska.

Grand Rapids, MI, The Grand Rapids Art Museum, Themes in American Painting (1 October-30 November 1977), cat. no. 6, listed p. 211, illus. p. 22, as Graves of Travellers, Fort Kearney, Nebraska.

Sarasota, Fla., John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Worthington Whittredge: Hudson River Artist (8 December 1989-11 February 1990); traveled to Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum (24 March-20 May 1990); Chattanooga, Tenn, Hunter Museum of Art (10 June-5 August 1990); Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art (8 September-4 November 1990)

Iowa City, The University of Iowa Museum of Art, Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie (17 August-3 November 1996); traveled to Fort Worth, TX, The Amon Carter Museum (23 November 1996-23 February 1997); to Omaha, The Joslyn Art Museum (19 April-27 July 1997), cat. no. 36, pp. 64-73, illus. pp. 70-71.

Year in Review: 1969. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 27-February 22, 1970).

Themes of American Painting. Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI (organizer) (October 1-November 30, 1977).

Plain Pictures: Images of the American Prairie. University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA (August 17-November 3, 1996); Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX (November 23, 1996-February 23, 1997); Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE (April 19-July 27, 1997).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1969.19