In the mid 1800s, the Industrial Revolution was picking up speed in the United States and bringing massive changes with it. Areas of the country that had once been considered wilderness were starting to attract settlers who preferred the country life over the ever expanding cities. Technological advancements such as trains led to far off places being more accessible to travelers and settlers alike. What had once been land that was left largely unspoiled was beginning to turn into small villages, then towns, then the cities that we know today. Painters of the 1800s saw these changes happening and created striking glimpses into a world the modern viewer no longer knows. The pieces below at first glance seem to be simply landscape paintings, but with a closer look reveal people and man-made things such as trains and houses. I think it is interesting to see the contrast between views we now only see in national parks and the people and things that were changing the landscapes of our country forever.
Thomas Cole, View on the Catskill- Early Autumn, 1836-37
Oil on Canvas, 39 x 63 inches
This painting shows the beautiful Catskill River and the surrounding mountains in New York. Thomas Cole paints a mother and child in the foreground with a man running after horses slightly back from them. However, with a closer look at the base of the mountains slightly right of the center, you can see smoke rising from a train that is passing by.
Jasper Francis Cropsey, The Valley of Wyoming, 1865
Oil on canvas, 48½ x 84 in
This painting shows a valley in what was then the territory of Wyoming. Though it did not receive statehood until 1890, settlements arrived much earlier. While the first things the viewer’s eyes are drawn to are the tree in the foreground or the sloping mountains and foothills, it does not take very long to spot the cows standing under the tree, or the houses and puffs of steam rising at the bottom of the hills.
Thomas Doughty, A River Glimpse, 1843-50
Oil on canvas, 30¼ x 25 in
This painting also depicts trees and hills, but instead of a town, shows a hunter and his dog. Doughty and his paintings inspired later artists such as Thomas Cole (seen earlier). The shift from a single figure to industrialization in the background over a few decades is interesting.
Worthington Whittredge, The Camp Meeting, 1874
Oil on canvas, 16 x 40 11/16 in
This painting depicts a religious camp meeting in the middle of the woods. Though the figures at the meeting are more quickly spotted than figures seen in earlier paintings, the main focus is still on nature. The pond and trees have more detail than the people surrounding them.
Lefevre James Cranstone, The Ohio River Near Wheeling, West Virginia, 1859-60
Watercolor and gouache on off-white wove paper, 11 15/16 x 17 15/16 in
In this work, the industrialization aspect is obvious with the boat as the main focal point. However, the small house and gardens on shore still evoke a sense of this being in a rural setting without much industrialization happening directly to it yet.
Thomas Doughty, Spring Landscape, 1853-56
Oil on canvas, 44 x 62 in
This painting is most reminiscent of Thomas Cole’s View on the Catskill- Early Autumn. Not only is the value similar in the way it contrasts a darker foreground with a lighter background, but it also contains very small figures and one non-natural item (Cole’s being the train, Doughty’s being the house). Also in both paintings, the natural world is still the main focus, despite humans and human-made objects being present.
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