1. The Hudson River School
American Romanticism
The Hudson River School
Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt, Friedrich Church

2. Hudson River School Romantic views Established early 19th century
Reflected American ideals at the time: exploration and expansion
Also had a religious quality
Parallel to the writings of Thoreau and Emerson
Thoreau was very enamored with nature, Walden
Emerson’s transparent eyeball, nature is the closest we can get to God
Romantic tenants: free expression, progressive ideas, anti-enlightenment, alone with nature, exotic places*
*American Romanticism focused almost purely on American landscapes, creating a nationalistic feel WC Bryant’s poem to Thomas Cole

3. Thomas Cole Founder of school Mentor of Church Landscapes/Allegory
Catskills
Kaaterskill falls
Hudson river valley America’s Rhineland

4. Garden of Eden 1828

5. Savage State
Arcadian
Consummation of Empire
Destruction

6. Desolation
Childhood youth adulthood old age

7. Friedrich Church Student of Cole
Painted Hudson scenes, as well as more exotic locations (Columbia in 1853, and Ecuador w/Louis Mignot in 1857)
Moved away from allegory
Andes of Ecuador 1855

8. Rainy Season in the Tropics 1866
Light was key
Hide brush strokes close to real life as possible

9. Morning, Looking East Over the Hudson Valley from the Catskills 1848

10. Albert Bierstadt German Member of 2nd Generation Hudson school
Came to America from Europe and painted American West scenes
Lake Tahoe

11. Sierra Nevada 1871
Stretcher canvas
Luminism

12. Indians Spear Fishing
Noble savage living in harmony with the land

13. Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains 1868
“in the midst of wild nature, the self becomes one with being and God, differentiation, alienation and struggle cease
Transparent eyeball