Gallery

Inness began his career in 1841 as an apprentice in a map engraver’s firm in New York City, where he worked for one year. The only formal training he received came from Regis Gignoux. Following that, Inness opened his own studio in 1845, the same year he first exhibited at the American Art Union. He first exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1844 and continued to do so for the rest of his life. He also exhibited frequently at the Brooklyn Art Association.
He was elected a member of the Century Association in 1853 and resigned in 1890.

Inness seems to have had an inner restlessness, for he moved frequently and made numerous trips to England, Italy, and France, where he was exposed to the Barbizon School. Following Inness’s exposure to the Barbizon School, his compositions lost the tight linearity of his early work.

Inness was fond of New Hampshire and was at the Kearsarge House in 1875 and kept a studio on the second floor of the North Conway Academy for several years before 1876. The last sixteen years of his life included trips to Mexico City, Cuba, Florida, the Yosemite Valley, and Europe.

Of his painting and of an artist’s obligations, Inness said, “A work of art does not appeal to the intellect. It does not appeal to the moral sense. Its aim is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion.” Such a philosophy is a direct contradiction of the aims of earlier landscapists such as Thomas Cole and Alvan Fisher, and of the topographical clarity of David Johnson and Asher B. Durand.

George Inness died on August 3, 1894 in Bridge of Allan, Scotland. He departed the Royal Hotel for an afternoon walk and soon after was brought back to his room by carriage after becoming ill. Inness passed away in the early evening hours, reportedly from apoplexy. His body was returned to New York City via the iron-hulled steamship Anchoria. Funeral services were held in the Council Room of the National Academy of Design on August 23. Reverend Ager, of the Brooklyn Swedenborgian Church, officiated. The artist was laid to rest in the Rosedale Cemetery, 408 Orange Road, Montclair, NJ.

Obituary Transcript-Telegram
Holyoke, MA / Saturday, August 4, 1894 / Page 1

George Inness, 69, the foremost landscape painter of America, has died in Scotland, where he had been traveling for his health. He was born at Newburg, N.Y. He studied with Regin [sic] Gignoux in New York, traveled and painted in Europe, lived a while in Boston, but of late years had made his home in Montclair, N.J., and had his studio in New York City. He easily leads the artists of landscape in this country. Mr. Inness was a man of original and eccentric character and his work partakes of these tendencies. He leaves a son, George Inness, Jr., who has distinguished himself as an animal painter, principally of horses.

Images of George Inness

Signatures

Image Credits
Courtesy of Charles O. Vogel

References
Independent research by the authors
New Hampshire Scenery