Hudson River School
Hudson River School
 
 
 
Landscape painting emerged about 1835 as the strongest and most original current in American art, and remained dominant during much of the 19th century. The founder of what is called the Hudson River school was Thomas Cole, who in the late 1820s began to paint highly dramatic, romantic landscapes, a departure from the prevailing classical style based on the 17th-century tradition of the French landscapist Claude Lorrain. Cole's distinctive contribution was his vision of the awesome majesty of the American wilderness, especially along the banks of the Hudson River, which he captured in his vigorous brushwork.
 

The second generation of the Hudson River school, working between about 1850 and 1870, approached landscape with the midcentury's clear realism. Concentrating on effects of light and atmosphere (in a manner known as luminism), they produced extremely detailed paintings in a precise technique that left hardly any trace of brushwork. The leading figure of this generation was Cole's only pupil, Frederick E. Church. With his thorough knowledge of natural history and his inexhaustible technical facility, he painted such natural spectacles as Niagara Falls (1857, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.) and South American wonders such as Cotopaxi (1863, Reading, Pennsylvania, Public Museum and Art Gallery) on immense canvases that toured the country to crowds and acclaim. The German-trained Albert Bierstadt had a similar success with large, theatrical paintings of Rocky Mountain scenery. Fitz Hugh Lane painted crystalline views of New England harbors. John F. Kensett and Martin J. Heade painted modest-sized landscapes in the luminist manner.

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