The Hudson River School of artists flourished in mid-nineteenth-century America, depicting sublime landscapes of the West. These painters based their philosophy on the idea of nature as God, and they painted landscapes that evoked the same sense of awe and reverence.
In 1825, literary Transcendentalists like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson collaborated with Thomas Cole to found the movement. They were all convinced that the new American identity had limitless potential. They explored a new spirituality away from Europe’s strict, suffocating culture. The Hudson River School was drawn to the potential power of “unspoiled” natural formations by the raw, open vistas of upstate New York. The return to pure, direct worship of God was symbolized by man’s communion with nature. Artists had the foresight to represent the sublime in order to elicit the same reverence in the viewer.
Their methodology and technique were also novel. The standard composition is exemplified in the paintings of key figures such as Asher Durand and Frederic Church. A large canvas depicts a landscape with dramatic lighting. Small people in the foreground emphasize the grandeur of the view, which is frequently captured at dawn or dusk. The landscape is romanticized by the accentuated lighting, which favors realism. Tree stumps and fallen trees are common sublime tropes, as they remind us of nature’s destructive and renewing power.
The nationalist agenda was promoted by the Hudson River School. With a different perspective on their country’s role in the Americas, they broke with the European Romantics. They believed that the “empty” wilderness reflected American independence. As a result of this perception, they felt compelled to populate the West in accordance with Manifest Destiny. A moral imperative to enjoy, but not spoil, the beauty of the wilderness overshadowed the possibility of a moral obligation to those who were already contentedly living in the continent’s “wild.” Americans in the coast’s bustling cities fantasized about living independently in the mountains. However, the Civil War shattered the artists’ ideals, and the Hudson River School’s work came to a halt around 1876.