The Hudson River School is a collective name for two generations of painters working in the areas in and around the Hudson River Valley in New York who transformed American Art, and landscape painting in general, in the early part of the 19th Century.
Painting the American Vision is the title of a new exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA that showcases these artists with 45 of their works drawn from the collection of the New York Historical Society.
The show includes works by Thomas Cole, Albert Biersadt, Frederic Edwin Church, Asher B. Durand and others, both familiar and less well known.
The museum’s page for the exhibition includes a slideshow of 12 paintings from the show, and there is a press release that goes into more detail about some of the artists and paintings.
You can also see a slideshow and description of the exhibit on the website of the Carter Museum of Art in Texas, where it was on display last year.
You can also visit the site of the New York Historical Society and view their extensive collection of Hudson River School paintings.
Painting the American Vision is on display at the Peabody Essex Museum until November 6, 2011.
(Images above: William hart, Asher B. Durand, Louis Rémy Mignot, Thomas Cole, George Peter Alexander Healy, Asher B. Durand)
James Gurney mentioned this show several weeks ago I think. Don’t hold my feet to the flame on that one, since as much blog-hopping as I do, it could have been anywhere.
I saw this show last Sunday! It was wonderful. The galleries are intimate but roomy enough to enjoy the large scale works. Quotes and motifs on the walls add to the show rather than distract. There is also a string quartet that was written to accompany Cole’s 5 painting cycle The Course of Empire, which I wrote about and linked to on my blog. This collection from the NY Historical Society rarely travels so if you get a chance see these American treasures on one of their stop.
i have a small painting of a small house with a waterwheel. the house is next to a river and there are trees around the house. the painting is signed , ESSEX , on the right bottom corner. all letters in the signature are capitalized. the painting and frame look original. could this be a hudson river painting. thank you, j. vargas