A Wooded Watershed

Commissioned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the Pennsylvania Building’s natural resources exhibition at the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial International Exposition, Daniel Garber’s mural A Wooded Watershed is a powerful expression of a rustic aesthetic that celebrated the regenerative powers of the simple life. Garber created this pristine primeval wilderness scene, ironically enough, for an exhibition building that was celebrating Pennsylvania’s forests and rocks as prime natural resources for the state’s industries. With assistance from a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania legislative initiative grant, the Michener acquired the work in 1994 from the Forestry School at Pennsylvania State University in Mont Alto, Pennsylvania.