The Hudson River School
Thomas Cole
Albert Bierstadt
Asher B Durand
Frederic Church
The Hudson River School of Painters, dated from the1820s, was a
loosely organized group of painters who took as their subject the
unique naturalness of the American continent, starting with the
Hudson River region in New York, but eventually extending in time
and space all the way to California and the 1870s. The time period in
which the school's artists were active was a time of momentous
social, political and economic change in American history, and the
work of the Hudson River School artists represents part of the
process of national self-conceptualization taking place in those
years.
Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902)
The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak
1863
Asher B Durand
Kindred Spirits
1849
This painting depicts Thomas
Cole the famous Hudson River
School painter reflecting with
poet and William Cullen
Bryant.
Cole and Durand were the
founders of the Hudson River
School, the first American school
of landscape painting. Their
friend, the poet-editor William
Cullen Bryant shared with them a
deep attachment to nature in the
New World, which he celebrated
in his poetry, particularly in
"Thanatopsis," perhaps the most
beloved and quoted American
poem of 19th-century. As editor
of the New York Evening Post,
Bryant helped promote the art of
Cole and Durand.
Asher B Durand
The Beeches
1845
Thomas Cole The Oxbow 1836
Background:
Notice the use of atmospheric perspective. By depicting the far
away mountains as hazy and gray, Cole has used the valuable
tool of atmospheric perspective which give the illusion of the far off
mountain range.
Midground:
This part of the painting depicts some
details that gives us visual clues that
this part of the landscape is in between
the background and the foreground.
Notice the attention to detail in the
leaves yet the size and amount of detail
indicates that it is not as close as the
foreground objects.
Foreground:
The foreground of this picture is packed with
important symbolism. Notice how the artist has
inserted himself into this landscape. This
shows the scale of the vast landscape before
us as well as demonstrates the imposition of
man into the uncharted wilderness.
Cole representations the struggle between wilderness and civilization.
The tree to the left directs the view of the scene down the valley toward
the farmland. The dramatic storm clouds over the wilderness speak of
the uncontrolled power of nature, but also of the sublimity of this power.
Thomas Cole The Voyage of Life: Childhood 1842
Thomas Cole The Voyage of Life: Youth 1842
Thomas Cole The Voyage of Life: Old Age 1842
Fredric Church
Niagara
1857
Fredric Church Twilight in the Wilderness 1860
"What I find fascinating is that everybody who looked on this magnificent
scene and published a reaction seems to have a different interpretation.
Some homed in on the eagle, up there on the left, and saw a symbol of
American power. Some noticed where the branches cross, and saw a
suggestion of Christianity. Others, noting the absence of human beings,
claimed the pines as our surrogates - standing tall and strong, as the
frontier expects. I must say that the pines most evident are somewhat
twisted and scruffy, which gives the landscape a remarkable air of
conviction; this is no ideal place, but truly what Church looked down
upon. The one interpretation that I find sustainable hinges on the
painting's date. In 1860, the menace in the sky would have been all too
real. The Civil War would soon break out, and the blood-red tide would
spread throughout the land." Sister Wendy
Fredric Church
The Icebergs
1861
Fredric Church
Niagara Falls,
from the American Side
1867
Albert Bierstadt
Looking Up the Yosemite Valley
c. 1865-67
Albert Bierstadt Sunrise, Yosemite
Valley
(no date)
Albert Bierstadt Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California
1868
Albert Bierstadt Seal Rock
c. 1872
Albert Bierstadt
The Great Trees,
Mariposa Grove, California
1876
These landscape paintings lay claim to an important place in
American art history and in the American cultural consciousness.
They represent the undeniable place that nature has and continues
to occupy in the American imagination.