Title: The Hudson River School
1Antebellum American Art
Chapter 15
2TheHudson RiverSchool 1820s-1870
3Background
- These artists captured the undiluted power of
nature - Paint the nations most spectacular and
undeveloped areas the new Garden of Eden. - Nature was the best source of wisdom
fulfillment. - They created visual embodiments of the ideals
ofthe Transcendentalists. Painting is
the vehicle through which the
universal mind could reach the mind of
mankind. Art is the agent of moral
spiritual transformation.
4Characteristics of the Hudson River School
A new art for a new land.
- Paint grand, scenic vistas.
- Humans are an insignificant even non-existent
part of the picture. - Experiment with affects of light on waterand
sky. - Symbol of the school ? a broken tree stump
5Issues/Themes Addressed by the Antebellum Artists
- Transcendentalist thinking.
- Westward expansion.
- American nationalism --gt What is America?
Creation of a national mythology - Racism and Native Americans.
- Concern for political extremism.
- The price paid for progress and the advances of
civilization.
6In Natures WonderlandThomas Doughty, 1835
7NiagaraFrederic Church, 1857
8View of the Catskills, Early AutumnThomas Cole,
1837
9View from Mt. Holyoke The OxbowThomas Cole, 1836
10The Course of Empire The Savage StateThomas
Cole, 1834
11The Course of Empire The Arcadian or The
Pastoral State - Thomas Cole, 1836
12The Course of Empire ConsummationThomas Cole,
1836
13The Course of Empire DestructionThomas Cole,
1836
14The Course of Empire DesolationThomas Cole,
1836
15Kindred Spirits Asher Durand, 1849
16Watercolors by John Audubon
Stanley Hawk
Barred Owl
17The Luminists
18Boston Harbor from Constitution WharfRobert
Salmon, 1833
19The Constitution in Boston HarborFitz Hugh Lane,
1848-49
20Fur Trappers Descending the MissouriGeorge Caleb
Bingham, 1845
21TheClassical Styles of Greece Rome
22Neo-Classical Architecture U. S. Customs
House, 1836
23Jefferson Rotunda(Univ. of VA), 1819-26
24The Capitol Rotunda
25Patriotic Art
26The Landing of the PilgrimsUnknown Artist, 1830s
27Washington Crossing the DelawareEmmanuel
Gottlieb Leutze, 1851
28George Washington Horatio Greenough, 1841
The New Cincinnatus?
29Our Banner in the Sky - Frederic Church, 1861
30TheFrontierArtists
31Young Omahaw, War Eagle, Little Missouri, and
Pawnees - Charles Bird King, 1821
1. The Noble Savage Image
32Buffalo Bulls Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe
- George Caitlin, 1832
2. The Stoic Indian
33Mato-Tope Karl Bodmer, 1830s
3. The Demonic Indian
34Osage Scalp Dance John Mix Stanley, 1845
35Last of the Race Tompkins Matteson, 1847
4. The Doomed Indian
36Dying Indian Chief Contemplating the Progress of
Civilization Thomas Crawford, 1857
A portend of the future??