USH - Hudson River School - Church

The Hudson River School was a group of American landscape painters in the mid-nineteenth century. (In this sense, “school” refers to “a group of people whose outlook, inspiration, output, or style demonstrates a common thread, rather than a learning institution.”) These painters took a Romantic approach (emphasizing emotions painted in a bold, dramatic manner; more emotional, usually melancholic, even melodramatically tragic, than classic painters) to illustrate the nature of the Hudson River Valley, the Catskill Mountains, the Berkshire Mountains, the White Mountains, and lands further west. As the American frontier expanded westward, their views (often brashly theatrical, embracing moral or literary associations) of the expanding territory found a passionate audience.

Although it is not entirely sure where the term Hudson River School came from, nor when it’s use was first published, a man named Thomas Cole is generally acknowledged as the founder of the Hudson River School. This artist had taken a steamship up the Hudson River in the autumn of 1825, stopping at places along the way to observe the environment of the area. Cole found the brilliant autumn hues of the area unusual (used to monochromatic green landscapes), and thus had inspiration for his paintings.

These paintings reflected the three major themes of America during the 19th century: discovery, exploration, and settlement. This time period was when America’s border greatly expanded and the nation increased in size. The paintings also tended to illustrate the American scenery as a pastoral setting, where humans and nature coexist peacefully. These landscapes are also characterized by their realistic and detailed (sometimes even idealized) portrayal of nature juxtaposed with colonialism and wilderness. In general, these painters believed that the landscape of the country was an indescribable expression of God, though not all artists had the same level of religious conviction.

Although the elements of the paintings themselves are shown very realistically, many of the actual scenes of the paintings are mixtures of various different outlooks and natural images observed by the artists. They would travel to many places in the process of gathering visual information and ideas for their paintings, going to rather unusual and severe places, many of which were too hostile to allow for the painter to stay there in the nature while completing his painting. Instead, the painters would sketch ideas and rely on memory in order to record ideas for the paintings which would then be created after the artists safely returned home.