American Scenery: Different Views in Hudson River School Painting

About the Exhibit

February 26, 2012 – May 13, 2012

This spring The Blanton Museum is pleased to present American Scenery: Different Views in Hudson River School Painting, featuring 116 paintings from the Hudson River School, a loose collective of artists working in upstate New York from 1825-1875, whose works comprised America’s first native artistic style. Artists included in the Hudson River School, and represented in The Blanton’s presentation, are Thomas Cole, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Asher B. Durand, Frederic Edwin Church, John Frederick Kensett, and John William Casilear, among others. Assembled from a single private collection, this touring exhibition is organized by the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

Simone Wicha, director of The Blanton states, “We are delighted to be able to present American Scenery to our members, visitors, and the Austin community. This special exhibition offers the unique opportunity to experience a remarkable period in American art. The works capture the pioneering spirit of the artists who were captivated and moved by the immense beauty of this country’s landscape.”

Founded in 1825 by Thomas Cole, the Hudson River School drew its inspiration from America’s landscape. Its artists shared a spiritual awe of nature and believed in the notion that the country’s untamed wilderness reflected aspects of its national character.American Scenery investigates the group’s shared aesthetic and philosophical principles and situates the paintings in the context of nineteenth-century American values. The exhibition’s unique point of view stresses the artist’s eye, pairing and grouping paintings that explore the visual characteristics of particular sites, or that examine the subtle changes that can be observed during varied seasons, times of day, and weather conditions. The exhibition will be on view in The Blanton’s Butler Family Foundation Gallery on the first floor, and will include a timeline and resource room for further exploration.

American Scenery serves as an eastern counterpart to the exhibition, Go West! Representations of The American Frontier, featuring works from The Blanton’s celebrated C.R. Smith Collection. Organized by The Blanton, it will be on view January 14 – September 23, 2012.

American Scenery: Different Views in Hudson River School Painting is organized and toured by the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA.

Support for the exhibition at The Blanton is provided by Mr. and Mrs. Jack S. Blanton, Sr., George and Nicole Jeffords, Dana and Gene Powell, Mary Ann and Larry Faulkner, Suzan and Julius Glickman, Ginni and Richard Mithoff, Kay M. Onstead, and the Taconic Charitable Foundation.

American Scenery Gallery Guides:
Locations
Iconography
Sublime, Picturesque, Beautiful