Landscape with Waterfall

Duncanson often included elements that suggest the power of nature in his paintings, such as the massive trees and the waterfall seen in this work.

Like many American landscapists of his day, he portrayed nature as an immeasurable, overwhelming expanse. That quality is evident in the deep recession of space from the trees in the foreground to the mountains shrouded in mist near the horizon. The year before Duncanson made "Landscape with Waterfall," he painted eight large landscape murals for the home of Nicholas Longworth (today, the Taft Museum of Art) embracing the opportunity to paint landscapes on a large scale.

Longworth’s commissions were remarkable for any artist of Duncanson’s age and level of training, let alone for an African American working during the era of slavery. Duncanson’s skill and ambition could only take him so far. Longworth’s support and patronage were crucial in developing his artistic career.