Week 3: The American Landscape, or, Romance in the Woods:

Images of the Environment as Depicted by the Hudson River School

OK, where have we been and where are we going now? From week one, we have looking at
ways in which the New World has been perceived, valued, fought for, and evaluated in terms of
its significance, importance, and meaning. This week we will continue our discussion about
national identity by focusing on paintings of the American landscape. In many ways we are
building off of the Romanticism suggested by Thomas Jefferson about the value of the American
landscape—what makes us unique and valued. So, as a brief review:

I. How new World is first viewed

a. What imagery defines the New World
b. Images of the Indian Princess
c. Scary animals and landscapes
II. Overlay of Puritanism
a. God’s wrath but also God’s chosen land
b. Tame the wilderness
c. Wilderness as a state of mind
III. Post- Rev. identity crisis- the land is our identity
IV. Now- What does it look like? THOMAS COLE will provide an answer to this
a. God’s plan revealed in nature
b. Romantic notions: William Cullen Bryant “The Forest as God’s First
Temples”

Beginnings of Landscape Painting in America:

John Smibert, View of Boston, 1738
 In the colonial era, landscape painting carried little distinction and an appreciation for
nature was uncommon. However, some homes were decorated with scenes of the
countryside by artists like John Smibert.
 By the 1780s, an appreciation for landscape grows. Illustrations and prints appear but
English travelers and visitors are responsible primarily for the rise of landscape painting.
They however, presented topographical views of the land without mood or atmosphere.
 By the late 1790s, Americans were realizing the uniqueness, the vastness and the
untouched nature of the American landscape. Landscape becomes a form of self-
identification by the nineteenth century and artists are the vehicles to emphasize this
concern.
 Artists use ideal images that perpetuate the belief in the holy qualities associated with
nature. As well, artists emphasize an emotional quality or attachment to the land that
assists in formulating national pride in the landscape. Landscape as a component of
national identity is unique from Europe.

Thomas Doughty, In Nature’s Wonderland, 1835.

 New interest in what the American landscape looks like
 As well, portrayals of nature as depicting the presence of the Deity create notions of the
wilderness as Holy Land- very different from Puritanical notions of mountains as

1
 manifestations of God’s wrath, now they are part of God’s glory (and interpreted as part
of God’s glorious plan for Americans- soon we have a discussion about Manifest Destiny
and you’ll see how explorations of the west relate to this).

Thomas Doughty, Fanciful Landscape, 1834

 Americans WANT SCENES OF THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE- not just imaginary
scenes based on European tradition
 General interest in landscape tradition in America
 How do you know this isn’t an American landscape
 Castle ruins for example

Visual Analysis: When thinking about how to look at a landscape painting, consider the
following:
 Is the scene framed on the left and right through trees and/or rocks to focus my attention
in the center of the composition?
 Where is my eye led first- how did the artist get my eye there- and perhaps why? What’s
there that the artist wanted me to see/consider?
 What about the artist’s use of colors- what season is depicted?
 What is the overall feeling suggested? Sublime? Picturesque? A combination of the two?
 What visual qualities make up the sublime and picturesque (we’ll get to that shortly- hang
in there)
 Do you like the painting?? This is an important question. While taste is subjective, you
need to be able to describe way or why not a painting resonates with you.
 OK, let’s look at some specific American landscapes and think about visual analyses

Hudson River Cartoon

 New School of artists looking to the American landscape specifically

 They are called the Hudson River School of artists because they focused a lot of their
artistic attention on painting the scenery and landscape specific to the Hudson River
Valley of New York State.
 There’s were distinctly and identifiably American views

Of Great Importance:

 The Hudson River School is the most significant artistic movement in the early 19th
century toward establishing a national identity.
 Now becomes widespread to greater class dissemination
 This denotes changing attitudes toward wilderness, which also has theological
implications. In the 1820s, the American tourist trade begins which results in widespread
appreciation of American “wilderness” (taking fear out of wilderness- visions of tamed
land).

2
  It is key to keep in mind that religion and nature were not separable in the early
nineteenth century, thus references to one would by its nature include the other.

Important European Aesthetic Theories that Influenced the artists of the Hudson River
School:
I want you to spend some time this week looking up each of these artists/philosophers to better
familiarize yourself with their ideas. Think about what they are proposing/asserting in
comparison with paintings by Thomas Cole for example to fully grasp their ideas. Ask me
questions if you have trouble.

Salvator Rosa, River Landscape, c1655; Claude Lorrain, Landscape with Dancing
Figures,1648

 Salvator Rosa- (1640s-50s) The Sublime = powerful forces of nature (often associated
with the powerful force of God) expressed in paintings to convey the awesome qualities
of the natural world. Tornadoes or a waterfall, for example, are sublime—powerful and
amazing if often overwhelming.
 Claude Lorrain- (1640s-50s) The Picturesque = poetic expression, idealized landscapes,
unified, symmetry- framing trees, natural effects of light.
 Edmund Burke- 1759 “Essay on the nature of the beautiful and sublime.”
 William Gilpin- 1791 “Essays on the Picturesque.” Gilpin was a British pastor who
travelled through the English countryside and wrote about what he saw. He advocated
that the most beautiful landscape paintings were those in which an artist did not focus on
any one exact detail but chose a composite view, take the most attractive features and
combine them into one painting.

OK, so who are the artists of the Hudson River School and what does their art look like?
The first, and most important of these artists, is Thomas Cole:

I want to do some outside research on Thomas Cole and Asher Durand this week to better
understand who they are and why they are so important in the American landscape
movement.

I also want you to start thinking more about how to create a visual analysis: telling me
what you see and why it is important. As you look at these landscapes consider the “How to
Look at Art” document in the blackboard folder where the syllabus is found and use those
guidelines as you view the following:

Thomas Cole:
Thomas Cole, Lake with Dead Trees, 1825
 One of the first three pts from first trip to Catskills in 1825
 Considered the founder of the Hudson River School. In 1825 he begins painting in New
York State (which is also the 50th anniversary of the American Revolution and begins an
interest in American geology= American antiquity).
 New York becomes growing artistic center for artists and writers, called
“knickerbockers.” Cole is “discovered” by John Trumbull (remember him?), Asher

3
 Durand (we’ll be talking about him momentarily) and William Dunlap (he wrote about
American art and artists).

Thomas Cole, From the Top of Kaaterskill Falls, 1826

 Cole paints scenery that is identifiable
 He also paints scenery that is part of a new tourist movement- people begin to have free
time, extra money, and transportation developments such as steam boat travel and interior
roadways help this growing industry.
 Please note: Cole likes to paint the landscape as if man has not been there.
 He favors adding deer or a Native American Indian (interpreted in the 19th century as a
nostalgic view of the past- see how far we’ve come since week one??)

Thomas Cole, Falls of Kaaterskill Falls, 1826

 Shows both falls- Kaaterskill is a double waterfall- you can go there and hike- it looks
just like this!
 Popular hiking spot

Thomas Cole, Kaaterskill Falls, 1826

 Scene from behind top falls

Schroon Mountain, Adirondacks, 1838

 Cole infuses a moral/didactic tone into his paintings of nature- nature as a source of
understanding the world and God’s plan, how to live.
 Cole influenced by: Sublime, Picturesque, Pastoral
 Cole is also influenced by Archibald Alison and his ideas about- “Association
Psychology”: 1) visual pleasure is derived from looking at wilderness or rural scenes. A
person’s strongest associations come from one’s own country, history, landscape- which
in America creates an antiquity (Peale and mastodon bones as proof of Amer. antiquity/
Jefferson and the Natural Bridge- scenes of American natural wonders); 2) The deity
which is found in nature- awakens our moral sense and makes us think of God. Research
this further for more information.

 Cole’s depiction of American scenery.

 He favored autumnal scenes when the colors were their most vibrant.
 He painted views that would have been recognizable to an American audience, which is
significant with regard to the issues of the growing popularity of American scenery and
the growing tourist trade.
 Cole’s works were sought after as nostalgic remembrances of a “wild” America,
untouched by industry, which was a growing concern for Americans by the early 1830s.
 Cole’s romantic views did much to foster an early concern for preservation of the land.
Cole spoken fervently about the evils of unrestricted industry, specifically, the railroad.

4
 Analyze these works visually with respect to the information about landscape painting
above—there will be a question about the American landscape on the final exam so start
preparing for a visual analysis question.
 Discuss use of color, form, balance, depth or recession of space, subject matter, and
meaning. Use the readings as a source of further lecture information as well as points for
discussion.

Thomas Cole, View from Mount Holyoke after a Thunderstorm (The Oxbow), 1836.
 Site specific location first illustrated by English sea captain- Basil Hall
 Tourist location, easily recognizable
 Notice the shape of the curve in the river- some have interpreted it as an Alpha and
Omega- beginning and end
 Watch atmospheric conditions
 In the mountains in the background- do you see the bare spots/patterns where there are no
trees? It has been suggested that the pattern shown by Cole is the Hebrew letters for
Shaddai- the Almighty
 When we talk about the relationship between God and the landscape (BE SURE TO
DO YOUR READING THIS WEEK) here we see Cole literally placing the presence
of God in the landscape—the American landscape
 Notice how the composition is bifurcated in two sections. On the left, the scene shows
the thunderstorm making its way out of the picture. This stormy atmosphere is a stylistic
reference to Salvator Rosa, as is the blasted tree stump.
 It becomes very important in 19th century landscape paintings to notice when trees are
felled by forces of nature as seen here by the ragged, uneven break in the tree trunk, or
when a tree has been cut by the hand of man, as seen by the clean cut of an axe. (see
Novak article)
 On the right of the composition, is a pastoral scene, reminiscent of Claude Lorrain. The
sky is clear and the land is worked for agrarian purposes, dotted with small farms.
 Note that Cole includes himself in this painting. He is tucked in the woods close to the
diagonal that separates the two sides. Just above him is placed his umbrella and painter’s
gear. He is looking out at the viewer, although diminutive in size. This reflects his
attitude about the placement of man with regard to the overwhelming power of nature,
i.e. God. Scale of figures is another element to watch in landscape painting: the smaller
the figure, the more respectful of nature; the larger the figure, the more assertive is man’s
presence.
 Cole sees God’s handiwork in nature, especially the cyclical aspects: growth, decay,
death, rebirth.
 Cole says, “The wilderness is YET a fitting place to speak of God.” In the same year that
paints this picture, he gives a public speech called his “Essay on American Scenery.”
 See Cole’s paintings as a visual counterpart of literature of the time (Bryant, Cooper-
Emerson’s essay “Nature” 1836). Compare Cole’s paintings to his writing, “Essay on
American Scenery” 1835 to compare visual and written languages for similar statements
about nature and God.
 Cole is painting at the time of the Transcendentalists: Emerson, Thoreau

5
  In Cole’s work, morality and the presence of the Deity is always present. Without this
morality, Cole saw himself as nothing more than a mere “leaf painter.”
 Cole produced both epic scenes and simple landscapes.

The examples given are specifically of American scenery:

Compare to present day site- oxbow no longer in existence

Novak Article- “The Nationalist Garden and the Holy Book”

 God and nature interchangeable
 Nature worship
 God’s nature and God in nature
 Coincides with destruction of the wilderness- the axe
 Primordial wilderness, garden of the world, original paradise- America as the site of a
new paradise
 Wilderness as primal innocence, the Garden regained
 Religious revivalism- apocalyptic imagery
 Sublime- presence of the Deity
 Pre-Darwinian
 Painters as priests of the natural church
 Moral influence of landscape painting- depict God’s handiwork and will
 Landscapes uplift morally and satisfy spiritually
 Nature and art as paths to spiritual enlightenment- Transcendental
 America’s destiny and the American landscape
 Natural resources are God’s blessings

I want you to read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay- “Nature”, 1835- you can find it easily on
the internet. Notice how image (Cole) and text (Emerson) are so similar. Two different
vocabularies- visual and literary-speaking a similar language

 Emerson is writing at the same time that Cole is painting

 Emerson:
 “Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe?”
 Defines nature and art
 “To go into solitude…”
 Transparent eyeball

View of Ox bow Today

Cole, In the Catskills, 1837

Cole, River in the Catskills, 1843

 Issue of wilderness being tamed
 Industry encroaching

6
COMPARE both views: look for examples of industrial “progress”- we will focus on these
two paintings next week so start thinking about them in detail now.

--------------
Thomas Cole became such an important artist that his work was often used as the basis for
other forms of art beyond the oil on canvas painting. For example, in 1827 he traveled from
Ohio to Philadelphia, sketching along the way. He used one of those drawings as the basis
for a painting that he made as part of a commission from a British editor to provide 12
views of the American landscape. That editor, John Howard Hinton, then had engraved
copies made of Cole’s paintings to illustrate a book he was publishing on the American
landscape! These books sold well because Europeans were also interested in learning about
the wonders of the American landscape. Below you’ll see how Cole’s work formed the basis
for a widely disseminated engraving and also became the imager selected to decorate a
British plate from the Staffordshire potters in England (we looked at some Staffordshire
examples in our lesson on Washington- remember?)

Cole- Headwaters of the Juniata drawing, c 1827

 of 1823/25 trip through PA

Painting- copy c 1840 after engraving

 1829-1832 trip to Europe

Engraving, 1831
 John Howard Hinton, History and Topography of the US, 1830-32
 Wide dissemination
 More affordable
 Middle class audience
 How Americans owned the landscape
 Literally- one could purchase a piece of property
 Figuratively- as an American this was “your” land after the Revolution. This is also what
Jefferson promoted through Monticello

Handcolored engraving, 1831

Soup plate- c1831-1861

 Staffordshire
 William Adams & Sons
 American views series
 Export ware

Next on our tour of great Hudson River School artists is:

Asher Brown Durand:

 Born 1796, NJ

7
  Durand stresses the technical abilities necessary to paint nature as well as the moralism
found in Cole, and a fusion of realism with religious idealism.
 Durand often equates nature to a church. Durand painted the American landscape as a
calm earthly paradise.
 Durand speaks of “The great happiness of standing face to face with nature.”
 He was encouraged to paint landscape (after an earlier career as one of America’s
greatest engravers. He engraved the famous Signing of the Declaration of Independence
by John Trumbull) in part due to Cole’s success and encouragement. The two had a close
relationship.

Kindred Spirits, 1849

 After Cole’s early death in 1848 (Find out how Cole died), Durand painted, Kindred
Spirits. This painting shows Thomas Cole with his friend, William Cullen Bryant on an
outcropping in his beloved Catskill Mountains, reflecting upon nature’s beauty (which to
Cole was also a call to God’s glory). Taken from 7th sonnet of Keats.
 Jonathan Sturgess, a New York dignitary, suggests this commission for Durand
 Durand surrounds the two in a romantic veil of light and the boughs of the trees serve to
encircle them as well. Halo effect. This was meant as a fitting tribute to Cole, who had
much to do with popularizing American scenery and elevating landscape painting to the
level of high art.
 Combines the Clove with Kaaterskill Falls—two of Cole’s favorite places in the Catskill
Mountains of New York State

The Beeches, 1845

 He believed that to go through nature, one will find God. He pictorializes this idea on
canvas in, The Beeches.
 If you enter the composition on the right, where Durand paints an easy access into the
scene, follow the path until you come upon a shepherd guiding his flock (this is an overt
reference to Christ and his flock as a guide to God).
 The path that they follow winds through nature into the background where the tip of a
church’s steeple is barely visible. The overtness of his imagery and message would have
been easily understood and appreciated by his audience. The reward of nature is God.

Interior of a Wood, 1850

 Durand’s calm and generalized views of nature, easy access, atmospheric perspective of
the 40s begin to change in the mid 1840s as he begins to make precise studies of nature,
such as In the Woods and Interior of a Wood. Here, the viewer is not given an easy
physical access into the composition. Individual forms and cropped views deny an easy
access for the viewer and assert nature itself, and not the artist’s hand in controlling the
composition, looser line.
 One reason for a change in his style was his knowledge of the British artist and
philosopher John Ruskin’s Modern Painters. Ruskin called for a greater truth to nature
and less idealizing (as in Cole’s works). Ruskin, like Cole, also felt that art with religion
added moral uplift, thus raising the status of art. Note the cycles of nature in Durand’s
work. Growth, decay, death, and rebirth demonstrate the regenerative powers of nature.
One was to be humbled by such images as if witnessing God’s plan.

8
  1840s takes up landscape painting; 1855 letters on landscape painting- The Crayon
 Nature tamed, Democratic system working
 Rejects high drama of Cole

In the Woods, 1855

Our last artist for this week is:

Frederic Church:

Frederic Church, New England Scenery, 1851

 Church blends nature, science and religion into his paintings of exotic scenery.
 A pupil of Thomas Cole, Church was known for his epic landscapes that celebrated
newly discovered wonders of the West, and Central and South Americas.
 His work personifies the Monroe Doctrine and Manifest Destiny.
 Besides nationalism, Church expands on religious content. His works are profoundly
geological at times, showing God’s creations as a work in progress.

Niagara, 1857 (42 x 90- 3.5 x 7.5 feet)

 This is a great example of the sublime
 Notice the awesome power of nature that Church depicts
 As well as the exacting detail
 And this painting is huge
 Have you been to Niagara Falls?
 Was your experience like this?
Niagara detail
 Earlier illustrations of Niagara were made since the 17th century
 Notice how artists of the Hudson River school move beyond the topographical
approach and add romanticism

Jan van Vianen, Niagara Falls, 1697

 First illustration of Niagara Falls for European audience
 By Louis Hennepin- Nouvelle Decouverte
 Became a symbol of strangeness/uniqueness
 18th century drive for natural accuracy- Enlightenment/science
 more a fascination than Romantic appreciation- 19th century concept

Church, Niagara compare with van Vianen

 19th century versus 18th century
 Romance versus topographical/scientific
 Heart versus head

Frederic Church, Twilight in the Wilderness, 1860

 One of Church’s most famous paintings. Nature celebrates the Deity.
 On an outcropping, in the lower left foreground, one finds the wood shaped like an angel
holding a cross. (Discuss the symbolism.)

9
  One is immediately struck by the enormity and vastness of the sky.
 The colors (again an advancement technically through new cadmium colors) are bold
and one sees more color and atmosphere than distinct forms. Church is after the power of
nature and the awesome properties of atmospheric conditions at certain times of day.
Twilight is an end to one day and the beginning of the next, an awakening of sorts.
Associate this with elements of the cyclical and of the presence of the Deity.
 He extends his outlook to show God is everywhere (Central, South America).
 He paints vast but reassuring scenes. As a parallel to turbulence in America (Civil War),
Church reveals God’s plan through life struggles and cyclical imagery, the Divine
experience.
 He was influenced by the German scientist Alexander von Humbolt who wrote
Kosmos. Von Humbolt wrote of the importance for artists to travel to find the most varied
natural forms as in the Andes and South America to demonstrate the existence of God’s
handiwork.
 Church represents one of the last pre-Darwinian landscape painters (the presence of
God’s work is unquestionable).
 Von Humbolt’s philosophy differs from Cole’s and Durand’s who see little reason to
leave this country in search of God’s glory. Ample proof exists right at home. Church,
like Durand, is influenced by John Ruskin and the results are noticeable in attention to
foliage and flora.
 Church’s colors are vibrant, in part due to new technical developments in cadmium
colors. This creates greater emotions in atmospheric perspective. Forms are permeated
by air to suggest the presence of the Deity.
 As well, Church’s paintings are much larger than Durand’s or Cole’s.
 Church’s work is full of paradoxes. He paints vast acreage but pays strict attention to
detail. He presents visions of paradise, but unlike Cole is not allegorical, but like
Durand he lets the land tell the story.
 Church paints the positive values of untouched nature. Remember that in 1858 Central
Park was begun as a form of natural preservation and public appreciation for nature.

Frederic Church, Heart of the Andes, 5 1/2 x 10 feet, 1859, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
NYC
 Church’s concentration on images of the exotic or foreign.
 He combines his use of intricate detail (each flower is identifiable) with a quality of light
that makes the atmospheric perspective seem as if it rolls in space.
 Note Church’s inclusion of a pilgrim by a makeshift shrine in the left foreground, as if to
suggest that even in these remote places, God’s grandeur can be found. Works of this
nature served to foster notions of Manifest Destiny (research this concept for our future
lecture on the topic).
 This work, completed in 1859 was exhibited for three weeks in May of 1859 in New
York City. It was seen by 12,000 people who paid $0.25 to see it. Note the
expansiveness of space. Relate these paintings later to the works of Albert Bierstadt, who
focuses primarily on American scenes of the West.

10
Where did Frederic Church live? He lived in a house he built along the Hudson River
called, Olana (research what this means)

Here are a few views: see what inspired him! You can visit Olana!!

Long view of Olana

House
 Moorish design

Through windows

Dramatic sky

Interior

Long view

POSSIBLE TRUE/FALSE STATEMENTS FOR THIS WEEK: use any of the landscapes
we talked about this week as the basis for a possible true/false statement in which you
investigate whether or not the artist is depicting an actual location or if he is combining
elements of the site for a more picturesque composition (as advocated by William Gilpin).
Also, you may want to investigate why people wanted to visit places such as Niagara Falls-
why seek out the sublime and picturesque in nature—the growth of tourism in America
(we still do this today so finding out more about how it all began may be quite interesting).
If you decide to do a true/false about this week’s topic-be sure to include a visual analysis of
the painting you have chosen.

Discussion Topics:

How does the rise of interest in American landscape painting relate to issues of nationalism or
national identity?
Discuss how Cole, Durand, and Church portray the presence of the Deity in their paintings.
What does the willingness of people to pay money to see a single painting by Frederic Church
say about the increased popularity of American landscape painting?

Exercise:
Visually analyze a painting and include in this discussion depth, space, detail, color, and what
this imagery suggests in terms of meaning.

Readings:
Avery, Kevin J. “The Heart of the Andes Exhibited: Frederic E. Church’s Window on the
Equatorial World.” American Art Journal 18 no.1 (1986): 52-72.
Cole, Thomas. “Essay on American Scenery.” 1835. Reprinted in McCoubrey, John W.
American Art 1700-1960, Sources and Documents. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall,
1965): 98-110.

11
Durand, Asher Brown. “Letters on Landscape Painting, 1855.” Reprinted in McCoubrey, John
W. American Art 1700-1960, Sources and Documents. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall,
1965): 110-115.
Nash, Roderick. “The American Wilderness.” in Wilderness and the American Mind. (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1982, third edition): 67-83.
Novak, Barbara. “The Double-Edged Axe.” Art in America 64 (January/February, 1976): 44-50.
Novak, Barbara. “The Nationalist Garden and the Holy Book.” in Nature and Culture, American
Landscape and Painting 1825-1875. revised edition. (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1995): 3-17.

12