This Land - Hood Museum explores the relationship between American artists and the natural world
Thomas Cole - View on Lake George - 1826
From January 5 through July 23, 2022, the Hood Museum of Art presents "This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World," which showcases artistic responses to the natural world by American artists from the early 19th century to the present.
Source: Hood Museum of Art Image: Thomas Cole, "View on Lake George, 1826," oil on wood panel. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Acquired by gift of Evelyn A. and William B. Jaffe.
Organized thematically, as opposed to the more conventional chronological organization, the exhibition includes some 160 works by American, European, African American, Latin American, and a strong representation of Native American artists, constructing a narrative that invites us to "consider new perspectives on historical and contemporary art by diverse artists, Native and non-Native, and to reflect on our own relationship to place and land."
The exhibition is organized into seven different sections: "An Ecocritical Lens" shows contemporary photographs that reveal the impact of natural resource exploitation. "Knowing Nature" surveys the different approaches, from the scientific to the spiritual, by which humans have attempted to achieve knowledge of the natural environment. The section entitled "Sustenance" focuses on nature as a source of food. The doctrine of "Manifest Destiny" -the belief that the United States is a chosen nation destined to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific- is showcased in "Expansion, Encounter and Exchange." "Power of Place" explores the connections between artists and particular places. The destructive face of nature is shown in " Force of Nature," while the final section of the exhibition, "Reimagining American Landscapes," showcases the contemporary and unconventional visions of artists such as Faith Ringgold or Arthur Amiotte.
"This exhibition urges us to consider our relationships with the natural world and our hopes for its future," said Jami Powell, curator of the exhibition. "It is also a project that we hope will encourage our colleagues to ask difficult questions and engage in meaningful dialogues about what constitutes ‘American’ art as well as who has the power to define it."

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