The Hudson River School, a mid-19th century art movement that focused on American landscape paintings, was heavily influenced by European Romanticism and often depicted idealized nature scenes. This was most often portrayed through dramatic lighting and meticulous detail within each painting. The Hudson River School is considered to be the first distinct art movement in America and was utilized to evoke a sense of national pride and awe of the landscape as the country expanded further west into unknown territories. Many artists used spiritual symbolism to further convey America’s divinely ordained task to explore and discover the land. One of the Hudson River School’s most prominent members, Asher Brown Durand, played a key role in the development of the naturalistic landscape paintings that were so heavily seen during this time. He was heavily influenced by works from artists such as Thomas Cole, John Constable and other European landscape artists; prompting his shift from portraits to landscapes. The second-generation artists of the Hudson River School, such as Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Edwin Church, were heavily influenced by Durand’s landscape pieces. He had a profound effect on the style of American landscape painting that we typically think of today. This exhibition illustrates Durand’s inspiration for his landscape paintings as well as the impact he had on future American landscape artists as mentioned above.
Luman Reed
Asher Brown Durand (American, Jefferson, New Jersey 1796–1886 Maplewood, New Jersey)
1835
Oil on canvas: 30 1/8 x 25 3/8 in. (76.5 x 64.5 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The beginning of Asher Brown Durand’s career consisted mostly of sketches, from which he trained as an engraver under Peter Maverick for 5 years (1812-1817), and portraits, commissioned by the New York goods merchant Lumen Reed. Reed initially commissioned Durand for portraits of American presidents, becoming one of his most staunch supporters of Durand’s shift from sketching to painting. Reed was additionally a strong supporter of Thomas Cole, the “father” of the Hudson River School as well as a close friend and mentor to Durand. Durand’s Lumen Reed, initially commissioned by Jonathan Sturges, marks the beginning of his famed career in painting.
View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow
Thomas Cole (American, Lancashire 1801–1848 Catskill, New York)
1836
Oil on canvas: 51 1/2 x 76 in. (130.8 x 193 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Oxbow by Thomas Cole, is arguably the most well known piece from the Hudson River school collection. Cole conveys the heart of the Romanticism movement through his dramatic and sublime depiction of the American landscape. The uncontrolled wilderness is clearly contrasted with the peaceful settlement just on the other side of the river. Cole’s use of dramatic lighting, another common feature of Romanticism, further emphasises his juxtaposition of the two sides of nature. Asher Durand, Cole’s long time friend and colleague was heavily influenced by Cole’s early depiction of the American landscape. Durand and Cole both participated in a trip to the Adirondacks in 1837, exposing Durand for the first time to Cole’s en plein air technique. After Cole’s death in 1948, Durand, deeply influenced by Cole’s work, became the new leader of the American landscape movement.
The Cornfield
John Constable (1776-1837)
1826
Oil on Canvas: 143 x122 cm
The National Gallery, London, England
Asher Durand’s travels to Europe in 1840-1841 heavily influenced the course of his future landscape paintings. It was during his travels that he was introduced to John Constable’s The Cornfield, exposing Durand to a Naturalistic approach to landscape that emphasized realism over the dramatic portrayal of nature. After seeing one of Constable’s paintings, Durand is recorded to have said that it conveyed “more of simple truth and naturalness than any English landscape I have ever before met with.” The Cornfield is praised for Constable’s precise and detailed depiction of the English countryside. It demonstrates Constable’s commitment to portraying a realism style of painting through close observation of nature.. The discovery of The Cornfield for Durand became a prominent source of influence as he returned to America to paint his first American landscape piece.
Asher Brown Durand (American, Jefferson, New Jersey 1796–1886 Maplewood, New Jersey)
1845
Oil on canvas: 60 3/8 x 48 1/8 in. (153.4 x 122.2 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Beeches is considered to be the turning point in Durand’s career. He was drawn to the Naturalism of Constable’s landscape painting as seen in The Cornfield. It is often seen as a direct inspiration for the scene that Durand depicts in The Beeches. There are many similar features found in the paintings such as the vertical orientation, the large trees next to the winding path, the sheep walking along the path and the church steeple in the background. These all support the idea that Durand was directly inspired by the work of Constable. The Beeches marks a shift in American landscape painting away from Romanticism as displayed by Thomas Cole to a more naturalistic scene as displayed by Durand and the 2nd generation of Hudson River School artists.
Kindred Spirits
Asher Brown Durand (American, Jefferson, New Jersey 1796–1886 Maplewood, New Jersey)
1849
Oil on canvas: 44 x 36 in. (111.8 x 91.4 cm)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
After the death of Thomas Cole in 1848, Durand quickly became the leader of the Hudson River School. In order to memorialize Cole’s contribution to the American landscape movement, Durand combined his naturalistic approach with Cole’s romantic style of landscape paintings to create Kindred Spirits. The detail in the rocks, trees and brush still exhibit the vivid depictions of nature that is so heavily used in Durand’s work. However, Durand also utilizes the cliffs in the foreground and mountains in the background to emphasize the sublime. This painting combines the idealized natural beauty of Cole’s work with the meticulous detail and realism that Durand is most known for.
The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak
Albert Bierstadt (American, Solingen 1830–1902 New York)
1863
Oil on canvas: 73 1/2 x 120 3/4 in. (186.7 x 306.7 cm)
Albert Bierstadt’s paintings and philosophy were directly inspired by Asher Durand’s works and leadership in the Hudson River School. Bierstadt is considered to be a part of the second generation of Hudson River School artists. Lander’s Peak is known for its grand depiction of the Rocky mountains symbolizing the westward expansion that was taking place in America during this time. Bierdstadt was exposed to the plein air technique and use of naturalism through Durand’s paintings. His influence on Bierdstadt’s work can clearly be seen in Lander’s Peak through the high-detailed foreground and the dramatic use of light in the background. This painting, and other works from the second generation of Hudson River school artists, evoke a sense of national pride and a commitment to the portrayal of the natural, untamed beauty of the American landscape.
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