The Hudson River School had a strong influence on what was in the mid- to late-nineteenth century a nascent preservationist movement. His magnificent paintings documenting “the course of empire” are the ultimate expression of this sensibility. The timeless flux of nature, its cycles and seasons, became measures of the evanescence of human creations, and the fallibility of overestimating mere appearances.
The titanic awe of God became an esthetic, a sensibility suffusing his paintings of rivers and valleys, forests and mountains. “The Course of Empire: Destruction,” 1836,Ĭourtesy of the New-York Historical SocietyThomas Cole’s paintings also reflect these sensibilities. Nature, it is fair to say, was at least a manifestation of God’s existential presence (panentheism), if not God (pantheism). Durand wrote many letters exploring the concept of the sublime, especially the sense of insignificance of humankind in relation to the awesome infinity and power of nature. Virtually all members of the Hudson River School understood the sublime as a manifestation of the power of God. Bryant, a poet and politician, believed that “the wilderness is yet a fitting place to speak of God.” (Interestingly, Bryant persuaded Cole to move to the Hudson Valley from New York City.) The figures in the painting are close friends, Thomas Cole and William Cullen Bryant. It implies the impact of the sublime beauty of the landscape on it subjects, with a sweeping panorama of the Hudson River Valley, wonderfully detailed, yet romantically inspired. His best-known painting, Kindred Spirits, symbolizes the Hudson River School. Durand was also a portraiturist, painting such notables as Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. Museum of American ArtDurand and other members of the school began as engravers. While these are perhaps the most acclaimed members, the school includes many other notable artists, such as Thomas Doughty (1793–1856), Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900), and Thomas Moran (1837–1926). Dutch landscape painting is an obvious historical forerunner of the Hudson River School, founded by Thomas Cole (1801–1848) and Asher B. 1600) by Dutch immigrants, especially near the Catskill Mountains (a dramatic escarpment rising nearly 3000 feet from the valley floor). The Hudson River Valley was originally settled (c. The school’s founders lived along the Hudson River, although most were not natives. However, prior to these painters, landscapes by American artists received virtually no attention (with perhaps the exception of Washington Allston). While named for its geographical location, Hudson River School members also painted scenes from the American West, South America, Mexico, and Mediterranean countries in a similar, romantic style. Their work continues to influence, even over determine, contemporary sensibilities. Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) remains America’s most original nature philosopher. His writings are the most representative expression of the ideas that moved the Hudson River painters. Ralph Waldo Emerson, born shortly after the American Revolution (1803), is the first genuinely American philosopher, and was instrumental in encouraging the national quest for identity. 1820 through 1880) establish the present sense of canonical landscapes. The representative paintings of the Hudson River School (c. The initial catalyst for the creation of America’s unparalleled system of national parks lies in their collective work. The American preservation movement, which has no equal in any nation, and, much of contemporary environmentalism originates in these sources. What is less obvious is the living legacy of the Hudson River School, Emerson, and Thoreau.
Clearly Emerson and the Hudson River painters believed that Nature gave proof of God’s Providence for the new nation-a theme readily understood, given the religious history of the colonists. The writings of Emerson and Thoreau with the landscape paintings of the Hudson River School offered nuanced interpretations of the unique relations of the American people to the land. Viewed collectively, their work articulated America’s “coming of age,” a nation in the process of discovering itself as distinct from Europe. Most obviously, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and the Hudson River School helped shape an emerging national identity. Nature Transformed is made possible by grants from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. Rachel Carson and the Awakening of Environmental Consciousness The Puritan Origins of the American Wilderness Movement The Roots of Preservation: Emerson, Thoreau, and the Hudson River School The Roots of Preservation: Emerson, Thoreau, and the Hudson River School, Nature Transformed, TeacherServe®, National Humanities Center
0 kommentar(er)
