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Joseph Frank Currier

Landscape New Dachau, about 1880

oil on canvas

18 ¾ x 37 ½ in.

Miscellaneous Painting Fund

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Currier was born in Massachusetts where his father owned a marble cutting establishment. He traveled to Munich and was part of the group of American artists who studied at the Royal Academy.  American painters working or studying in Munich did not spend all their time indoors in the studios of the Royal Academy.  They also traveled to villages in the German countryside to set up their canvases in the open air. Currier was instrumental in helping American artists studying at the Royal Academy with their landscape painting during their free time away from their formal studies. Currier married and lived for many years at Dachau where he painted some of his best work.

Currier often painted the dark moors beside the hill of nearby Dachau, transcribing his views with vigorous, spontaneous brushwork. He applied the subdued tones typical of the Munich School with a freedom of execution unusual for this era.  This broad landscape, with its simple, rhythmic forms and rich surface texture, exemplifies Curriers bold, emotional response to the powers of nature. 

Reference

Nelson C. White. The Life and Art of J. Frank Currier, Riverside, California: Riverside Press, 1936. ASIN: B001MJTQ4E