Slippery Morning

Object Details

Artist

Thomas Hunster

Caption

This tree-filled painting depicts an icy winter morning, but its title also hints at the human experience of the landscape, and perhaps also figuratively at the artistic challenge of capturing its beauty and the scene’s impermanence.

The scene is likely inspired by wooded lands in Prince George’s County, Maryland, on the outskirts of Washington, DC, where the Thomas Watson Hunster (1851-1929) and his spouse, Susan Alice Lewis, settled in 1911. The couple bought a plot in Ardwick, a community of African American professionals, from artist William Stanton Wormley. A native of Cincinnati, Hunster’s love of landscape painting may have originated with painters working in the area at the time including his childhood friend, Silas Jerome Uhl (1841-1916), and Robert S. Duncanson (1821/22-1872), another landscape and portrait painter of African American descent.

Hunster worked as Director of Drawing for Washington, DC’s Black public schools, where he developed an innovative curriculum that incorporated art at every grade level, from kindergarten through teacher training at Miner Normal School. He encouraged students to draw and paint what they observed, both in classrooms with live plants and animals brought in for that purpose and beyond school walls. Modeling what he taught, Professor Hunster painted his surroundings.

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Este cuadro lleno de árboles representa una gélida mañana de invierno, aunque su título también alude a la experiencia humana del paisaje, y quizá, en sentido figurado, al reto artístico de captar su belleza y la fugacidad de la escena.

Es probable que la imagen esté inspirada en las tierras boscosas del condado de Prince George (Maryland), en las afueras de Washington D.C. donde Thomas Watson Hunter (1851-1929) y su esposa, Susan Alice Lewis, se instalaron en 1911. La pareja compró una parcela en Ardwick, una comunidad de profesionales afroamericanos, al artista William Stanton Wormley. Nacido en Cincinnati, Hunster posiblemente se aficionó al paisajismo gracias a los pintores que trabajaban en la zona en aquella época, entre ellos su amigo de la infancia Silas Jerome Uhl (1841-1916) y Robert S. Duncanson (1821/22-1872), otro paisajista y retratista de ascendencia afroamericana.

Hunster trabajó como director de Dibujo para las escuelas públicas negras de Washington D.C., donde desarrolló un innovador plan de estudios que incorporaba el arte en todos los cursos, desde la educación de la primera infancia hasta la formación de profesores en la Miner Normal School. Animaba a los alumnos a dibujar y pintar lo que observaban, tanto en las aulas donde había plantas y animales vivos traídos con ese fin, como más allá de los muros de la escuela. Modelando lo que enseñaba, el profesor Hunster pintaba su entorno.

Between 1875 and 1929

Accession Number

2011.1007.0002

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

painting

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

24 13/16 × 35 9/16 in. (63 × 90.4 cm)

Frame: 30 11/16 × 41 15/16 × 2 3/8 in. (78 × 106.5 × 6 cm)

See more items in

Anacostia Community Museum Collection

Anacostia Community Museum

Record ID

acm_2011.1007.0002

Metadata Usage (text)

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dl829b243aa-a8fa-4ff9-90e4-e9fb6b81269f