Hudson River School
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Hudson River School • Thomas Cole said: if nature were untouched by the hand of man--as was much of the primeval American landscape in the early 19th century-- then man could become more easily acquainted with the hand of God. • Visual representations of Thoreau, Whitman and Emerson • Separated themselves from European counterparts by concentrating on the landscape and scenes of Hudson River Valley and upstate NY
description
Hudson River School. Thomas Cole said: if nature were untouched by the hand of man--as was much of the primeval American landscape in the early 19th century--then man could become more easily acquainted with the hand of God. Visual representations of Thoreau, Whitman and Emerson - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Hudson River School
Hudson River School
• Thomas Cole said: if nature were untouched by the hand of man--as was much of the primeval American landscape in the early 19th century--then man could become more easily acquainted with the hand of God.
• Visual representations of Thoreau, Whitman and Emerson
• Separated themselves from European counterparts by concentrating on the landscape and scenes of Hudson River Valley and upstate NY
Thomas Cole
Born in England in 1801Moved to America in 1818
Bio film: http://www.thomascole.org/
Scene from The Last of the Mohicans 1826
More info• First purely American movement in art• “Hudson River painters believed art to be an
agent of moral and spiritual transformation”• Influences: Romanticism, European painters
such as Constable or Turner….HR artists studied with their European counterparts, but created a distinctly American style
• Sketch work from nature, in the environment…finished works in studio
• Artists felt that they were the guardians of the American Landscape
Characteristics
• Works often held symbolic “broken tree stump” which was likened to a Memento Mori...life is temporary….nature and the soul are eternal’
• Atmospheric lighting• Grand vistas…sense of awe in the natural
world
The Course of Empire• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvhy6iybvXI• Series of paintings inspired by travels to Europe…Fallen empires with new ones
surrounding• “…historical associations, moralistic narrative, and what the artist felt were
universal truths about mankind”• “A series of pictures might be painted that should illustrate the History of a natural
scene, as well as be an Epitome of Man—showing the natural changes of Landscape & those effected by man in his progress from Barbarism to Civilization, to Luxury, the Vicious state or state of destruction and to the state of Ruin & Desolation.
The philosophy of my subject is drawn from the history of the past, wherein we see how nations have risen from the Savage state to that of Power & Glory & then fallen & become extinct... “
http://www.explorethomascole.org/tour/items/69/series/
Thomas Moran• Born 1837 in England• Parents were textile weavers• Mechanized looms came with Industrial age and parents lost jobs• Relocated to outside of Philly, PA• Moran worked as apprentice to wood engravers firm• Traveled to London to study marine/landscape works of JMW Turner• Upon return, sold lithographs of the Great Lakes region• Traveled West to Yellowstone as part of a group documenting that natural
area (a geologist, photographer William Henry Jackson and Moran)• Their work contributed to the establishment of Yellowstone as a National
Park • Jackson and Moran would collaborate on another endeavor…Western
territory• Two famous paintings resulted Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and The
Chasm of Colorado both purchased for the asounding amount of $10,000 each by congress to hang in our capital
Grand Canyon of the YellowstoneThomas Moran
Chasm of Colorado
Forest SceneThomas Moran
Cliff Dwellers Painted by:Thomas Moran
critique
Asher B. Durand, "Kindred Spirits" (1849).
Resources
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/hudson.html
• http://www.thomas-cole.info/• http://www.hudson-river-school.org/Cliff-
Dwellers.html• http://www.thomas-moran.org/
biography.html
