Skip to main content

The Winter Art Show

October 2024
1min read

When he taught painting on Cape Cod in 1899, Hermann Dudley Murphy urged his students to use poetic abstraction to “awaken an emotion” in their viewers, an approach favored by the period’s symbolist movement. In The Marshes , produced that summer, he demonstrated the power of the technique. By emphasizing design over description, he created a dense, fluid landscape, whose lack of specificity manages to give it an oddly modern cast.

Enjoy our work? Help us keep going.

Now in its 75th year, American Heritage relies on contributions from readers like you to survive. You can support this magazine of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it by donating today.

Donate