1767, A View on the Susquehanna, Benjamin West

Artists have been traveling to this region to paint the Susquehanna since before the republic was formed, leaving a stunning legacy of work that chronicles the gradual transformation of the landscape and society’s view toward it.

In 2008, internationally known artist Rob Evans assembled many of those paintings in an exhibition called, Visions of the Susquehanna: 250 Years of Paintings by American Masters. As Evans notes “we rarely are presented with such an opportunity to view a single subject through the eyes of so many extraordinary artists over such an extended period of time.”

1873, Susquehanna River Below Wrightsville; Lloyd Mifflin

Five paintings in the exhibit depicting Wright’s Crossing exemplify this transformation of the landscape. According to Evans, “We first glimpse this important crossing point on the river for east-west travelers, at near water level, as wild and untamed in Benjamin West’s 1767 portrayal, A View on the Susquehanna. In Lloyd Mifflin’s 1873 panoramic view, Susquehanna River Below Wrightsville, we see the network of canals, railroads, and iron furnaces that have sprung up along the river’s shores along with a single expansive covered bridge crossing the river.

1931, The Susquehanna River; Stephen Etnier

That bridge, destroyed by a hurricane in 1896, was replaced by two newer bridges and further development in the town of Wrightsville, which frames the view of the river in Stephen Etnier’s 1931 The Susquehanna River.  Finally, in Matthew Daub’s 2006 painting, Foundry, depicting an operating iron foundry along the waterfront in Wrightsville, the river is barely visible through the foundry’s complex infrastructure of ducts and industrial framework. Civilization has gradually closed in on the river, which was so dominant in the first painting, but almost obscured in the last. In these four views we see summarized so eloquently the evolution of the river’s importance as our society and our consumptive needs continue to expand. 

1997, Migration, Rob Evans

As this progression clearly portrays, the Susquehanna River valley represents a microcosm of the American experience at large: a vast wilderness of great natural abundance explored, settled, farmed, industrialized, and now threatened.

Many of the original contemporary paintings from the Visions of the Susquehanna exhibit are on display at the Zimmerman Center for Heritage, an historic house restored by John and Kathryn Zimmerman and gifted to the Susquehanna Gateway Heritage Area to serve and benefit the community.

Zimmerman Center for Heritage

To learn more about the exhibit visit http://robevansart.net/id175.html.  To learn more about the Zimmerman Center, visit http://www.susquehannaheritage.org/AboutUs/ZimmermanCenterforHeritage.aspx