Hudson River School’s Dynamic Loyalty Towards Thomas Cole

   Emerging around 1850, the Hudson River School emulated ideals reflecting that of their primary inspiration, Thomas Cole. Cole did not play an active role in the development of the school but instead was the inspiration for his students and peers of the time through his interest in the natural world and religion via romanticism. The Hudson River School valued nature and its glorious beauty but the collective artists diversified in their articulation of this beauty between naturalism, realism, stylism, and romanticism.

 Cole was noted to have “the perception of wildness inherent in American scenery that landscape artists had theretofore ignored”, according to Colonel John Trumbull (Kevin J). His works were based out of America as well as his extended time in Europe; however, numerous pieces were conceived from his imagination, such as The Mountain Ford, just two years before his death in 1846. His works were full of symbolism as he found the natural world to be a springboard for investing in both intellect and emotion. His primary field of interest was specifically American scenes as industrialization began to change the terrain and identity of America. 

The Hudson River School curation will attempt to answer how each artist within the group responded to Cole’s natural landscapes and how, despite the school having the commonality of Cole’s inspiration, each artist chose their own path within this framework.

John Frederick Kensett American, Eaton’s Neck, Long Island,  1872, On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 761

    John Frederick Kensett painted his

  

 Eaton’s Neck, Long Island oil on canvas painting the summer before his death in 1872. His works usually contained a large body of water but the location varied throughout his career. He worked alongside Cole while studying art in Europe but as he joined the Hudson River School he deviated from Cole’s rich symbolism and instead distilled his motifs until he became a master at Luminism, focusing on the effects of light within a landscape by using large aerial scenes and invisible brush strokes. By the later years of the school’s formation there was a greater interest in capturing the authentic American landscape, something Kensett distinctly adheres to.

Martin Johnson Heade, Newburyport Meadows, ca. 1876–81, On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 761

Martin Johnson Heade’s Newburyport Meadows is another piece born from the Hudson River School’s later years. He was on the fringe of the group and had a different interest field from the rest of the members, focusing on marshes in the surrounding states of the hudson river valley rather than dynamic mountains or forests. Heade used a wide scale view without overwhelming details to focus on the remaining climax of nature that supposedly reflected his mood. 

Jasper Francis Cropsey, The Valley of Wyoming, 1865, On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 760

Jasper Francis Cropsey’s The Valley of Wyoming is a work most similar to that of Asher Brown Durand’s Thanatopsis regarding the depiction of life and mankind within the work. Cropsey’s collection of works held less cohesive qualities however he held a sense of patriotism via the great American plains particularly in the midst of the civil war. Alongside his fellow artists in the later period of the Hudson River School, he too drew interest in luminism.

Thomas Cole, The Titan's Goblet, 1833, On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 759

Thomas Cole’s The Titan’s Goblet exemplifies the romantic nature of his works to which the Hudson River School is accredited. The Titan’s Goblet, as most all of Cole’s works are, is allegorical reflecting the passage of time particularly between man and nature. This particular work is believed to reflect literature, though historians are not certain which particular one beyond speculation. This is in contrast to many of his other works as this piece does not seem to have a focus on religious symbolism. 

    Asher Brown Durand, Landscape- Scene from "Thanatopsis", On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 759

Asher Brown Durand was a student under Thomas Cole; as such, he had great respect for Cole and battled heavily between his interest in realism and romantic symbolism. Durand was attracted to realism and depicting the authenticity of nature because he did not believe he could be better than how God intended for it to be, but as Cole’s student Durand felt a respect for Cole and an obligation to not stray from his teaching. Thanatopsis is a work completed by Durand in 1850, right around Cole’s death and the beginnings of the Hudson River School and chock full of symbolism. 

Frederic Edwin Church, The Parthenon, 1871, On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 760

Frederic Edwin Church’s The Parthenon is one example of a greater variation within the Hudson River School. Church painted it in the later years of the School but it follows a different focus of interest than Cole and that of which was present for the other artists at the same period. Unlike the other works in the Hudson River School, The Parthenon points towards something with particular European history when at the time the artists had been gravitating towards depicting distinctly American scenes of untouched nature.