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A General View of the Falls of Niagara
Alvan Fisher (born Needham, MA 1792-died Dedham, MA 1863)
1820
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- 34 3/8 x 48 1/8 in. (87.2 x 122.3 cm.)
- Culture
- Indians of North America
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
This scene by Alvan Fisher conveys the magnificent beauty of Niagara Falls, which quickly became an icon for the new nation. Tiny figures stand at the rim of the cataract, their gestures expressing awe and delight in the grandeur of the scene before them. Lacking a lengthy, cultured past, Americans looked to the grandeur of the landscape to reflect the scale of the new country’s ambitions. Just as the Seven Wonders of the World had given Europeans a sense of pride in their past, Niagara Falls and other natural wonders became symbols of America’s identity.
