Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Art History and Visual Culture

Department

Art

First Advisor

Trent Olsen

Second Advisor

Piper Hutson

Third Advisor

Maria Esperanca Camara

Abstract

This project focuses on a comparative digital exhibition and analysis between Caspar David Friedrich and Fitz Henry Lane’s seascape artwork. Both artists have not been shown together in a gallery; thus this research into common themes in their works reveals a new perspective on early- to mid-19th-century seascape art. This perspective shows how their different geographies and historical contexts converge through the shared visual language of contemplation, morality, and reflecting in the mystery of life through nature. The project aims to create a digital gallery that showcases an ideal layout and a comparison of the artists, with curated works that offer a new perspective when comparing European and American art. Furthermore, the project studies how viewers of galleries, students, and researchers can engage with both artists and continue to form connections through art.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: The seascape artwork of Caspar David Friedrich and Fitz Henry Lane has not been extensively exhibited or compared together in a gallery space. 

  • The Method: The researcher curated a comparative digital exhibition on the Metasteps platform; the gallery layout features six specific artworks by Friedrich and five specific artworks by Lane. 

  • Qualitative Finding: The artists' distinct geographies and historical contexts converge through a shared visual language of contemplation and morality; both painters transform the sea into a meditative space illustrating themes of life cycles and aging. 

  • Finding: The production of the digital exhibition revealed that the Metasteps platform presented backend editing challenges concerning zooming and text size manipulation.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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