Harold Rudolph (c. 1850-1883/4)
c. 1878
Oil on canvas
| Indian Lodge on Bluffs Harold Rudolph (c. 1850-1883/4) c. 1878 Oil on canvas |
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| Harold Rudolph arrived in
New Orleans during Reconstruction and established a
portrait studio with his brother-in-law Burtus Ducomman.
Rudolph and Ducomman’s partnership was uneasy, and,
sadly, Ducomman committed suicide in 1877. After his
brother-in-law’s death, Rudolph continued his
portrait work, but became increasingly intrigued with
landscapes. He frequently depicted American Indians in
his paintings. In Indian Lodge on Bluffs, a steamboat rolls down the Missouri River as a small band of Indians look on from a cliff. Rudolph used this painting to comment on the encroachment of technology into pristine nature, a popular theme of the late nineteenth century. Nostalgia for the untouched landscape permeates the painting. The Louisiana State Museum has eight signed Rudolph portraits including a pendant pair of Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Forwood dated 1879, purchased from Dr. I. M. Cline. By the
same artist: |