Landscape Flashcards
Thomas Cole
1801-48
active 1830-40s
- Born in England. Comes to US in 1818
- 1st generation Hudson River School HRS
- Framing elements
- NYC generated attention from William Dunlauo, Asher Durand, John Trumbull,
- Luman Reed - a patron of HRS
- wilderness vs civilization -> industriualisation
- no specific depiction of trees
The course of Empire
1834-36
- Allegorical study
- Classical references to warn americans - industrialization - will destroy humanity
- Pastoral scene is Cole’s ideal scene for mankind
- HRS integrally connected to God, Nature, and Man.
- How does man get divine salvation? By maintaining a close relationship to God’s natural world.
Thomas Cole
Course of Empire - 1834-36
Savage State
- ideal state of natural world - untouched
- calm
- hunters teepees
Thomas Cole
Course of Empire
Pastoral stage 1834-36
- shepard. old vs. young. ruins. stone on mountains=god, cultivation of land
- settled land. pre urban ancient greece
Thomas Cole
Course of Empire
Consummation of Empire stage 1834-36
- mighty civilization
- the man made is crowding out the natural divine
Thomas Cole
Course of Empire
Destruction stage 1834-36
- when man loses touch with nature.
- Everything is falling apart
- Fallen civilization
Thomas Cole
Course of Empire
Desolation stage 1834-36
- The works of man has faded. Nature wins
Thomas Cole
the oxbow 1836
- Wild/savage on one side and pastoral on the other
- Progress is coming across
- Storm blasted three in front, reminds us of god’s power
Thomas Cole
1840 Voyage of life
Childhood Dawn. Emerging from a cave
Youth You are ready to go on your own
Manhood Praying on a boat. The angle is far away
Old age The angle had come back. And drags you to the light (life is over). The water I calm again.
ASHER B. DURAND
ASHER B. DURAND
1796-1886
- Patron and contemporary of Cole (1835)
- Leading landscape painter after Cole’s death
- more specific depiction of trees
- The beauty of nature. Create a mood with nature
- Plays with the contrast of cultivated and wild
Asher Durand
1849 - Kindred Spirits
- Depiction of Cole and WC Bryant in the Catskills as a memorial piece
- Romantic themes
- Typical framing elements and makeup of landscape painting
Asher Durand
1849 - Beeches
- Arcadian scene of beeches (framing elements of the trees)
- Pastoral landscape at its finest
- has a shepard way off in the background, a cultivated landscape to some degree
1855 - In the Woods
- A more ruskinian view of nature. Encouraging artist to look close on nature. A scene that is more so less wild.
FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH
FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH
1826-1900
(active 1850s)
- Attention to specificity of details
- Supremely talented painter
- Mid 20s trains with Cole for 3 years, Cole’s only student
- Incredibly specific depictions of natural elements
- Sublime→ in sky and in the subjects he chooses
Frederick Church
Niagara Falls 1857
- No framing elements, the waterfall itself
- panoramic view
- Niagara as an important american landscape
- Shows someone who has studied how water goes over a rock and changes in color and tone as it falls
- Not only looking at mist to understand how it transforms vision but figuring out a way to replicate it throughout the scene
- Seen as this ultimate point of sublimity
Frederick Church
1859→ Heart of the Andes
- South America as a destination
- ATTENTION TO DETAIL
- Every mini part of this work is a mini painting
- a church is depicted
- Always God is omnipresent
Frederick Church
1860→ Twilight in the Wilderness–
- SUBLIME SKY
- During the civil war – others were thinking of it as the twilight of society
- Also referred to as - Worshipping at the alter of nature
- The introduction of chromium colors made it possivle to paint the sunset
JOHN FREDERICK KENSETT
JOHN FREDERICK KENSETT
1816-72
(active late 1850s)
- Begun his career as a engraver
- Goes to Europe with Durand…
- Returns to America 1847
- Silvery, misty, sparkley
- Known for his lake George scenes
- Meditative contemplative relationship with nature
JOHN FREDERICK KENSETT
1855 → Bash Bish Falls
John Frederick Kensett,
Lake George, 1856
- emerging vacationing class
- these areas were becoming the summer destination for wealthy New York City families
JASPER CROPSEY
1860→ Autumn on the Hudson River
- known for making autumn autumnal
- second rate painter
- he was not in US when he painted it
Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt
1830-1902
(active 1860s)
- Looking at the West as Arcadian
- He trained in Germany, Dusseldorf
- Moody and tonal painter. Mountains fading out. A sense of space and sparseness
- The landscape had a sense of the sublime
- An emotional description of the drama that cannot be caught in a photo.
Albert Bierstadt
1863
- Not as metrically painted as church. You cannot tell each tree
- An extreme and dramatic proportion of nature
- Compositionally he is not as intuitive as Church
- Natives and their artifacts in the front. Major focal point in the center. You are drawn back and forth between the foreground and the background
Albert Bierstadt
Looking Up Yosemite Valley, 1865-67
- The landscape is fixed to look more romantic and clean. To exaggerate the experience of the view
- One of the most used view points of the montains. At this time, this view gets established as the view to show the valley.
- The distortions of the view makes the result look more dramatic than the real view.
