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Exhibition History“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 20 – April 11, 2004.
Artist
George Henry Durrie
(1820 - 1863)
Cider Making in the Country
Date1863
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 35 9/16 × 53 3/4 in. (90.3 × 136.5 cm)
Object numberN0426.1955
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextCider making was common among farmers in 19th-century New York because it provided hard cider and vinegar for home consumption and barter. Following the Civil War, the demand for farm-made hard cider diminished as a result of temperance and inexpensive distilled liquor. In this painting, George Henry Durrie captures a nostalgic scene of a traditional chore throughout the rural northeast, but one that was beginning to disappear.
Durrie is most noted for his images of the settled American countryside. Working previously as a portraitist and sign painter, he turned to land-scape and genre scenes in the early 1850s. In 1857, Durrie caught the attention of the famous printmaking firm of Currier and Ives and from them received his first commission. His images achieved instant popularity. For most of his life, Durrie had a modest, provincial career that was expanding to a national scale when he died.Exhibition History“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 20 – April 11, 2004.
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