Nineteenth century American Art : the Hudson River School(Papers Read at the 31th National Congress)

Abstract

American painting tradition has some connection with European Art. But in 19th century, for example, we can point out some landscape painters' group called the Hudson River School, which was free from European influences. They are a large, loosely knit group of artists who painted landscapes between 1825 and 1875 in New York State, New England and even in the far West. The first artist to found the school is usually considered to be Thomas Cole (1801-1848), who gave stylistic direction to the growing interest in landscape paintings of the period, but still was not typical painter of the school. We see in his works a faithfull style transcribing nature for itself, and at the same time his romantic manner turning landscape into overt religious and moral allegories. The style of the school is accomplished by Ashar B. Durand (1796-1886), whose "Letter on Landscape Painting" is the credo. Durand, influenced by the idea of a transcendentalist Ralph W. Emerson, believed nature to be a manifestation of God. Those paintings of the school treating landscape as a symbol of an untamed land, as an uplifting expression of God's presence in nature, make a new development called Luminism.