John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872) was an American landscape artist. He was one of the pioneers of ‘luminism’. He was also a leading member of the second generation of the Hudson River School of American art.

Early Life

John Frederick Kensett was born in Cheshire, Connecticut. His father, Thomas Kensett, an English immigrant, was an engraver. His mother, Elizabeth Dagget, was a New Englander. In his early days, Kensett was employed in his father’s engraving firm. He began studying and drawing in his father’s firm in New Haven and then with Peter Maverick, an engraver in New York. At this time Kensett began experimenting with landscape painting and soon enough knew that to be his true calling. He was encouraged by John Casilear who was a contemporary and a notable painter of the Hudson River school.

Travels to Europe

Kensett’s first exhibition at the National Academy of Design in New York was a painting by the name Landscape in 1838. Along with other friends and painters such as Casiliear, Asher B. Durand, Thomas P. Rossiter, Kensett travelled to Europe. From Paris, his quest for excellence in painting took him to Rome, and during his stay in Italy, Kensett started sketching some of the idyllic destinations in and around the places in Southern Italy. During this period, he also expanded the like-minded community of artists and art enthusiasts with some of the well-known painters lending support to him and joining the breed of painters.

His Stay in Paris

After gaining initial knowledge about landscape painting with the help of his acquaintance with some of the well-known artists in England, Kensett moved to Paris and stayed there for 2 years. In Paris, Kensett came into contact with some noted landscape painters and this helped him in honing his talent. He began sending some of his earliest landscape paintings to the New York exhibition in the year 1843. Kensett returned to New York in 1847. He was soon after elected Associate of the National Academy of Design in New York in 1848. The next year Kensett was named a full member of the Academy and became a member of the prestigious Century Club.

Inspiration From The Greats

Much of Kensett’s initial work was inspired by Thomas Cole, John Constable, and other English painters. His sojourn away from his hometown ended with the death of his father and Kensett had to return to his village and to his firm. Having become enchanted with the engraving job, Kensett went to England with the aim of becoming a landscape painter. His paintings grew more refined due to the influence of painters such as Cole and Durand. Accordingly, Kensett started working on more tranquil and simple compositions.

His Favorite Judson River Valley

Kensett preferred to work on small and medium canvases to larger canvases. His favourite haunts for landscape art were the vicinity of New York with many of his work around the Hudson River that ran through New York. Kensett tried the same scenes with different variations in composition, lighting, and atmosphere. Bash-Bish Falls, Lake George, and coastal areas of Newport, Rhode Island, Beverly, Massachusetts were some of the places that inspired his paintings.

Pinnacle of his Career

In 1859, Kensett was appointed a member of the National Art commission. He was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and was one of its trustees. Durand reached the pinnacle of his painting career during the 1860s. After Kensett’s reasonably prolonged stay in Italy, he returned to the US in 1847. He became a member of the Century Association. Thereafter, Kensett became a full academician of the National Academy of Design in 1848 immediately thereafter. Most of the prominent subjects chosen by Kensett for painting included the picturesque locations along the Hudson River, Niagara Falls, etc. Kensett travelled all over America in search of nature’s scenic affluence that provided subjects to his paintings and prodded his artistic skill.

Luminism, his Speciality

Kensett is widely recognized as the master capable of giving a specific kind of visual effect to his painting called ‘luminism’. Luminism is a painters’ ability to make use of the delicate texture of brushwork to give exemplary effect to a painting with the precise and requisite mix of light and atmosphere. Kensett’s brilliance in exhibiting the classic ‘luminism’ excelled in paintings where the undulating earth joined the placid expanse of water.