Skip to main contentProvenanceThe artist
J. H. Reed, Dubuque, Iowa
Sotheby's, New York, New York, October 22, 1981, lot 66
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (agent), Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1981
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1992
Exhibition HistoryPublished References
Alfred Thompson Bricher
(American, 1837–1908)
The Sidewheeler "The City of St. Paul" on the Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa
1872
Oil on canvas mounted on board
Image: 20 1/8 × 38 1/8 in. (51.1 × 96.8 cm)
Frame: 35 3/8 × 53 × 6 7/16 in. (89.9 × 134.6 × 16.4 cm)
Frame: 35 3/8 × 53 × 6 7/16 in. (89.9 × 134.6 × 16.4 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1992.18
SignedLower left: A. Bricher/72
InterpretationA record of Alfred Thompson Bricher’s trip to the upper Mississippi River Valley in 1866, The Sidewheeler "The City of St. Paul" on the Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa portrays the wide expanse of the river under a glowing sky. Partly obscured by storm clouds in the upper right, the sunlight illuminates the horizon of still water and the edges of more distant fair-weather clouds in the upper center of the composition. A pink glow pervades the entire scene, framed on the left by the landing, buildings, and docked steamboat on the western shore and on the right by small sailboats and the distant bluffs on the Illinois-Wisconsin border. A rowboat with two figures punctuates the broad expanse of gently rippling water in the foreground.
Bricher recorded his western travels in the early summer of 1866 in sketches and notes that became the basis for paintings later created in his studio. This work, painted six years after the trip, may have been commissioned, for it was purchased from the artist by Dubuque merchant J. H. Reed, whose clearly marked dry-goods store appears prominently among the buildings clustered near the water’s edge. Bricher took equal care with the sidewheeler “The City of Saint Paul,” a wooden hull packet boat launched in 1855 as the “Moses McLellan” and owned by the Northwestern Union Packet Company, a freight shipping firm. Sidewheelers were distinctive to the Mississippi, the Ohio, and other western waterways. Bricher’s portrait of this particular vessel lends an air of authenticity to his image of a region remote from the traditional landscape painting grounds of the American northeast.
This painting marks a departure from the typical work of Bricher’s early career, such as the Terra Foundation’s Lake George from Bolton’s Landing (TF 1992.17) and The Hudson River at West Point (TF 1993.17), in which water is seen from a considerable distance and height, throwing the surrounding land into prominence. In portraying the Mississippi, Bricher took his view from the water itself, relegating the shores to framing devices and opening the sky to a fuller role in the composition. Light and its reflections are central elements in this image, which echoes the broad, open compositions, low, flat horizons, and horizontal emphasis of the marine paintings that dominated his output beginning around 1870. The Sidewheeler "The City of St. Paul" on the Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa demonstrates Bricher’s embrace of the then-emerging aesthetic, dubbed luminism by modern scholars, in which broad expanses of still water and sky and pervasive, glowing light play a significant role.
Bricher recorded his western travels in the early summer of 1866 in sketches and notes that became the basis for paintings later created in his studio. This work, painted six years after the trip, may have been commissioned, for it was purchased from the artist by Dubuque merchant J. H. Reed, whose clearly marked dry-goods store appears prominently among the buildings clustered near the water’s edge. Bricher took equal care with the sidewheeler “The City of Saint Paul,” a wooden hull packet boat launched in 1855 as the “Moses McLellan” and owned by the Northwestern Union Packet Company, a freight shipping firm. Sidewheelers were distinctive to the Mississippi, the Ohio, and other western waterways. Bricher’s portrait of this particular vessel lends an air of authenticity to his image of a region remote from the traditional landscape painting grounds of the American northeast.
This painting marks a departure from the typical work of Bricher’s early career, such as the Terra Foundation’s Lake George from Bolton’s Landing (TF 1992.17) and The Hudson River at West Point (TF 1993.17), in which water is seen from a considerable distance and height, throwing the surrounding land into prominence. In portraying the Mississippi, Bricher took his view from the water itself, relegating the shores to framing devices and opening the sky to a fuller role in the composition. Light and its reflections are central elements in this image, which echoes the broad, open compositions, low, flat horizons, and horizontal emphasis of the marine paintings that dominated his output beginning around 1870. The Sidewheeler "The City of St. Paul" on the Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa demonstrates Bricher’s embrace of the then-emerging aesthetic, dubbed luminism by modern scholars, in which broad expanses of still water and sky and pervasive, glowing light play a significant role.
J. H. Reed, Dubuque, Iowa
Sotheby's, New York, New York, October 22, 1981, lot 66
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York (agent), Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1981
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1992
Exhibition History
Masterworks in American Art from the Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, April 27–September 12, 1985.
A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]
Selections from the Permanent Collection: Americans at Home and Abroad, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 6–29, 1987.
Attitudes Toward Nature, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 30, 1995–April 21, 1996.
Selected Works from the Collections: Two Hundred Years of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.
Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900 (Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]
Permanent collection installation, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 9–February 11, 2001.
Ships at Sea: Sailing Through Summer, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 6–August 26, 2001.
American Classics: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 15–September 1, 2002.
A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003 (on exhibit extended run: November 2, 2002–March 2, 2003).
The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains 1840–1940), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]
Copley to Cassatt: Masterworks from the Terra Collection, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, and Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, September 5–December 7, 2003.
La Scène américaine, 1860–1930 (Americans at Home, 1860-1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, July 10–October 30, 2005.
La Scène américaine, 1860–1930 (Americans at Home, 1860-1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, April 1–October 29, 2006.
Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation,Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, NY and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, IL (organizers). Venues: National Museum of China, Beijing, China, February 9–April 5, 2007; Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China, April 30–June 30, 2007; Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China, April 30–June 30, 2007. (Shanghai presentations ran concurrently); The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia, July 23–September 9, 2007; Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain, October 15, 2007–April 27, 2008 (exhibited in Bilbao). [exh. cat.]
Manifest Destiny, Manifest Responsibility: Environmentalism and the Art of the American Landscape. Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois and Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Loyola University Museum of Art, May 17–August 10, 2008. [exh. cat.]
Picturing the Americas: Landscape Painting from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois, in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada and Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (organizers). Venues: Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada, June 20–September 7, 2015; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, November 6, 2015–January 18, 2016, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, February 27–May 29, 2016. [exh. cat.]
Continental Shift: Nineteenth Century American and Australian Landscape Painting, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Art Gallery of Western Australia, July 30, 2016–February 5, 2017. [exh. cat.]
Not as the Songs of other Lands: 19th century Australian and American Landscape Painting, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Ian Potter Museum of Art, March 14–June 11, 2017.
The Studio of Nature, 1860-1910: The Terra Collection in Context (L’atelier de la Nature, 1860-1910. Invitation à la Terra Collection). Terra Foundation for American Art with the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny (organizers). Venue: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, France, September 12, 2020–January 3, 2021. [exh. cat. in French]
A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]
Selections from the Permanent Collection: Americans at Home and Abroad, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 6–29, 1987.
Attitudes Toward Nature, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 30, 1995–April 21, 1996.
Selected Works from the Collections: Two Hundred Years of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.
Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900 (Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]
Permanent collection installation, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 9–February 11, 2001.
Ships at Sea: Sailing Through Summer, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, June 6–August 26, 2001.
American Classics: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 15–September 1, 2002.
A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003 (on exhibit extended run: November 2, 2002–March 2, 2003).
The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains 1840–1940), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]
Copley to Cassatt: Masterworks from the Terra Collection, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, and Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, September 5–December 7, 2003.
La Scène américaine, 1860–1930 (Americans at Home, 1860-1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, July 10–October 30, 2005.
La Scène américaine, 1860–1930 (Americans at Home, 1860-1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, April 1–October 29, 2006.
Art in America: 300 Years of Innovation,Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, NY and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, IL (organizers). Venues: National Museum of China, Beijing, China, February 9–April 5, 2007; Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China, April 30–June 30, 2007; Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China, April 30–June 30, 2007. (Shanghai presentations ran concurrently); The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia, July 23–September 9, 2007; Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain, October 15, 2007–April 27, 2008 (exhibited in Bilbao). [exh. cat.]
Manifest Destiny, Manifest Responsibility: Environmentalism and the Art of the American Landscape. Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois and Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Loyola University Museum of Art, May 17–August 10, 2008. [exh. cat.]
Picturing the Americas: Landscape Painting from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois, in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada and Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (organizers). Venues: Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada, June 20–September 7, 2015; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, November 6, 2015–January 18, 2016, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, February 27–May 29, 2016. [exh. cat.]
Continental Shift: Nineteenth Century American and Australian Landscape Painting, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Art Gallery of Western Australia, July 30, 2016–February 5, 2017. [exh. cat.]
Not as the Songs of other Lands: 19th century Australian and American Landscape Painting, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Ian Potter Museum of Art, March 14–June 11, 2017.
The Studio of Nature, 1860-1910: The Terra Collection in Context (L’atelier de la Nature, 1860-1910. Invitation à la Terra Collection). Terra Foundation for American Art with the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny (organizers). Venue: Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, France, September 12, 2020–January 3, 2021. [exh. cat. in French]
Sotheby's, New York, New York (Sale 4707M, October 22, 1981): lot 66. Ill. lot 66 (color).
Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-52, p. 161 (color).
Cartwright, Derrick R. Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 18, 26 (checklist); fig. 11, p. 18 (black & white).
Cartwright, Derrick R. Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 18, 26 (checklist); fig. 11, p. 18 (black & white).
Sharp, Kevin. A Wilder Image Bright: Hudson River School Paintings from the Manoogian Collection. Vero Beach, FL: Vero Beach Museum of Art, 2004. Text pp. 115, 147 n. 5.
Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in the USA: 300 años de innovación. (exh. cat., Guggenheim Museum Bilbao). New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago, IL: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. (Spanish version). Ill. p. 100 (color).
Brownlee, Peter John. Manifest Destiny / Manifest Responsibility: Environmentalism and the Art of the American Landscape. (exh. cat., Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art and Loyola University Museum of Art, 2008. Text pp. 28, 34 (checklist); Ill. Pl. 8, p. 47 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text p. 75; ill. p. 75 (color).
Bourguignon, Katherine and Valerie Reis. The Studio of Nature, 1860-1910: The Terra Collection in Context. (exh. cat, Terra Foundation for American Art with the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny). Paris, France: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2020. Pl. 3, p. 59 (color).
Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Pl. T-52, p. 161 (color).
Cartwright, Derrick R. Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 18, 26 (checklist); fig. 11, p. 18 (black & white).
Cartwright, Derrick R. Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 18, 26 (checklist); fig. 11, p. 18 (black & white).
Sharp, Kevin. A Wilder Image Bright: Hudson River School Paintings from the Manoogian Collection. Vero Beach, FL: Vero Beach Museum of Art, 2004. Text pp. 115, 147 n. 5.
Davidson, Susan, ed. Art in the USA: 300 años de innovación. (exh. cat., Guggenheim Museum Bilbao). New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Chicago, IL: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2007. (Spanish version). Ill. p. 100 (color).
Brownlee, Peter John. Manifest Destiny / Manifest Responsibility: Environmentalism and the Art of the American Landscape. (exh. cat., Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, Illinois). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for American Art and Loyola University Museum of Art, 2008. Text pp. 28, 34 (checklist); Ill. Pl. 8, p. 47 (color). Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text p. 75; ill. p. 75 (color).
Bourguignon, Katherine and Valerie Reis. The Studio of Nature, 1860-1910: The Terra Collection in Context. (exh. cat, Terra Foundation for American Art with the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny). Paris, France: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2020. Pl. 3, p. 59 (color).