At the Waterfall 1850

David Claypoole Johnston made this watercolor, "At the Waterfall," sometime in the 19th century. Johnston was working during a period of immense social and environmental transformation in the United States. Here, Johnston invites us to consider our place within the vastness of nature. Two figures stand at the edge of the cliff, gazing at the waterfall, rendered small against the backdrop of the natural world. There is an emotional complexity here. While the figures may feel a sense of awe, this scene also brings to mind the complicated history of landscape painting and its connection to expansion and notions of manifest destiny. Landscape paintings can uphold a narrative of the land as something to be conquered. Johnston's "At the Waterfall" encourages a moment of reflection on our relationship with nature and the stories we tell about it.