Approaching Storm

Edward Mitchell Bannister, Approaching Storm, 1886, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of G. William Miller, 1983.95.62
Copied Edward Mitchell Bannister, Approaching Storm, 1886, oil on canvas, 40 1⁄8 x 60 in. (102.0 x 152.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of G. William Miller, 1983.95.62
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Artwork Details

Title
Approaching Storm
Artist
Date
1886
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
40 1⁄8 x 60 in. (102.0 x 152.4 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of G. William Miller
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Occupation — industry — lumber
  • Landscape — weather — storm
  • Figure male — full length
Object Number
1983.95.62
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1983.95.62

Artwork Description

This windy scene of a lone figure struggling in the face of a storm would have held special meaning for nineteenth-century viewers, who believed that their nation's landscape was infused with God's presence. In 1886, the year he painted Approaching Storm, Edward Mitchell Bannister wrote an essay titled "The Artist and His Critics," in which he argued that spiritual expression is the artist's ultimate goal. (Hartigan, Sharing Traditions, 1985)