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The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 enabled waves of travelers from America and Europe to visit places to the west that had been previously inaccessible. Many of these travelers wrote about their experiences and impressions in private journals or travelogues that were then published. Many writers were impressed by the dramatic vistas, the wild forests, and the engineering feats of places like the Lockport locks, and at the same time did not hesitate to record the more mundane or irritating aspects of canal travel as well.
The first visual representations of the canal came from prints published in these same travel guides and in magazines, beginning immediately after the canal opened in 1825. Prints were quickly followed by paintings, as artists who traveled on the Erie returned to their studios to develop their sketches into larger works. Though prints and paintings were the most popular forms for Erie Canal imagery, the canal was also evoked in more unusual forms, including on dishes, wallpaper and clothing. Some artists portrayed the canal with close fidelity, others chose to romanticize it. And while many artists, like their literary counterparts, chose to evoke the most sublime and awe-inspiring features of the 363-mile waterway, all aspects of the canal experience were recorded visually.
During the nineteenth century, the Erie Canal captured the imagination of Americans and Europeans alike. A source of wonder and inspiration for the artists and travelers who made their way along its waters, the canal generated an abundance and variety of art and literature. The paintings, prints, maps, artifacts, and travelers' descriptions presented in Recollections and Reflections lead the viewer on a trip through the Erie Canal as it is reflected in the art of the period and in the voices of those who left a written account of their journeys.
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