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detail of John Frederick Kensett's painting

Photo Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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America’s vision of itself as a unique country is rooted in the Hudson River Valley. The wild mountains and forests were in sharp contrast to the tamed European countryside, but it took artists to celebrate that difference as a strength of the new nation and its developing character. The paintings of Samuel Morse (1791–1872), Thomas Doherty (1793 –1856), Asher Durand (1796 –1886), Thomas Cole (1801–1848), Jasper Cropsey (1823 –1900), Frederic Church (1826–1900), and Albert Bierstadt (1830 –1900), and numerous others documented and shaped American attitudes toward nature.

 

Hudson River School of Painting

Artlex.com

ArtLex, art dictionary site, listing on the Hudson River School and associated web-links.

Albany Institute of History and Art

This page of the Albany Institute of History and Art site contains a brief summary and an index of Hudson River School paintings in their collection.

HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL

Hudson River School: American Art, 1820-1870.

Desmond Fish Library

Index of Hudson River School Painters listed by the Desmond Fish Library, includes images and biographical text.

"Why We Think Nature Is Beautiful."

A related page on a site developed by Dr. Eugene C. Hargrove, Professor of Environmental Philosophy, North Texas University, called "Why We Think Nature Is Beautiful." This site presents another discussion of the Hudson River School and its relation to the environment.

I Love New York

The I Love New York website listing of Hudson River School Art Collection Locations and Descriptions.

Newington-Cropsey Foundation

This Newington-Cropsey Foundation website is intended to provide information about the Foundation, the artist Jasper Cropsey, and the Hudson River School of Art.

Project VIEW"Project VIEW, a Federal Technology Innovation Challenge Grant, is led by the Schenectady City School District. This innovative program is designed to open the classroom door so that students and teachers can engage in an array of boundless learning opportunities." Attached are educational pages on the Hudson River School and the Native American Landscape.The Forges & Manor of Ringwood"The Forges & Manor of Ringwood is an historic center, sacred ground to the Native Americans and a site of important American developments, both industrial and social, during the Colonial, Federal, and Victorian periods." Located in the Hudson Highlands in Northern New Jersey, this site also has a collection of Hudson River School paintings.Frederic E. Church (1826-1900)"Frederic Church, one of the premier American landscape painters, will forever be associated with the Hudson River Valley, where he painted and made his home. Immensely popular in the mid-19th century, his paintings are characterized by a calmness and sense of hope."Thomas Cole (1801-1848)"In 1825, Cole discovered the haunting beauty of the Catskill wilderness. His exhibition of small paintings of Catskill landscapes came to the attention of prominent figures on the New York City art scene"Asher B. Durand (1796-1886)"An active member of the New York art community, Durand was instrumental in organizing the New-York Drawing Association in 1825 (later the National Academy of Design, which he served as president from 1845 to 1861"William Dunlap (1766-1839)"The first historian of the American stage, William Dunlap was a passionate lover of the arts, a gifted painter, a tireless chronicler of his day and a writer of considerable charm."Sanford R. Gifford (1823-1880)"Gifford's earliest works show the combined influence of Thomas Cole's style and his own nature studies."Jasper F. Cropsey (1823-1900)Cropsey mostly painted landscapes, copied from engravings of Claude Lorrain and other landscape artists.

 

Hudson River School Estates

Frederic Church's estate, Olana"The mission of the Olana Partnership is to advocate for and support the preservation of Olana and its integral view shed, to sponsor educational programs, and to foster scholarly educational research on the artist and his property." Includes information, images, and directions to Frederic Church's estate, OlanaCedar Grove"Cedar Grove, the home of Thomas Cole, is one of a very limited number of National Historic Landmarks having extraordinary significance in the cultural development of the United States. It was here that Thomas Cole established a tradition of native American landscape painting which continues to grow in importance and has come to be identified as the Hudson River School of Art."