"'In search of a national landscape: William Trost Richards and the artists' Adirondacks, 1850-1870' accompanies the first exhibition devoted to William T. Richards's paintings of the Adirondacks, a little-known body of beautiful and important landscapes. Essays by Linda S. Ferber and Caroline M. Welsh chronicle Richards's discovery and interpretation of the region from the detailed wilderness landscapes of midcentury to his painterly impressions of Whiteface and Lack Placid in the late plein-air oil sketches. These essays set Richards's work in the context of his colleagues who joined him in a quest for a national landscape. Generously illustrated, this volume will be of interest to art and social historians as well as collectors and those who appreciate American art"--Back cover.