"Sunset Glory," Elliott Daingerfield, circa 1915. Photo courtesy Morris Museum of Art.

On Exhibit: ‘Everlasting Calm’ at LSUMOA

Ever feel a heavenly presence while viewing a spectacular natural scene? So did Elliott Daingerfield, a turn-of-the-20th-century Southern artist who spent much of his career trying to capture the divine manifest in nature through his lush paintings. “Everlasting Calm: The Art of Elliott Daingerfield,” a traveling retrospective exhibition of his work, arrives at the LSU Museum of Art this month in a season of spiritual reflection.

More than 50 of Daingerfield’s oil paintings and drawings focused on both Southern and Western landscapes will be part of the show, accompanied by works by his artistic contemporaries George Inness and Ralph Blakelock. A native of Virginia, Daingerfield received formal training in New York and maintained studios in North Carolina and New York, where he shared space with Inness.

Daingerfield’s works are influenced by the Tonalist movement, which “focused on the spiritual mood of light as opposed to the observed phenomenon of light that interested impressionists,” says LSU Museum of Art curator Courtney Taylor.

“Following a year of [exhibits on] Haitian art, expressive pop from Hunt Slonem, and Japanese scrolls, we’re swinging back to the timeless, gold-frame, beautiful landscapes for which museums are much loved,” Taylor says. “Daingerfield captures something ‘unseen’ and spiritual in his landscapes.”

An opening reception and lecture will take place at 6 p.m. December 15.