Niagara
Louis Rémy Mignot
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
From the eighteenth century on, Niagara Falls was among the most iconic symbols of American might, pride, and cultural identity. Its meaning shifts in this painting by Louis Rémy Mignot, a Southerner and Confederate sympathizer forced to abandon his rising New York career upon the outbreak of the Civil War. Although the composition was likely inspired by his friend Frederic Church’s famous Niagara (1857), Mignot pointedly chose an atypical view, facing the Canadian, rather than the American, side of the falls. He made one last sketching excursion to Niagara before his departure in 1862 for London, where he completed the work.
Caption
Louis Rémy Mignot (American, 1831–1870). Niagara, 1866. Oil on canvas, frame: 61 1/2 × 104 1/4 × 4 1/2 in. (156.2 × 264.8 × 11.4 cm) 48 3/4 x 91 1/2 in. (123.8 x 232.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Arthur S. Fairchild, 1993.118. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Niagara
Date
1866
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
frame: 61 1/2 × 104 1/4 × 4 1/2 in. (156.2 × 264.8 × 11.4 cm) 48 3/4 x 91 1/2 in. (123.8 x 232.4 cm)
Signatures
Signed lower right on rock: "M. / 70"
Credit Line
Gift of Arthur S. Fairchild
Accession Number
1993.118
Frequent Art Questions
What is this?
This is a painting of the Niagara Falls by an American artist called Louis Mignot.Mignot was showing the Falls from the Canadian side in this painting. Although Niagara was already a very popular tourist destination, Mignot purposely concentrates on the natural spectacle, eliminating tourists, scenic viewpoint stations, the nearby hotels, etc.It was painted in 1866, when photography began to really become popular, and when artists started becoming aware about the ways that memories recorded through painting differ from those recorded through photography.
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