Monday, September 23, 2013

The Hudson River School






















Though we are currently doing a project right now in class we still have a test on chapters 13-16. While I was reading chapter 16 this weekend (yes, I know that was due last Thursday) I was reading the section titled Artistic Achievements and I saw that the textbook briefly mentioned the Hudson River. Though I am well aware that the American Pageant is not in any way or even close to resembling an Art History textbook in anyway, it gave an appalling small mention of the Hudson River School. The Hudson River School was not a actual school, but a term used to describe the 19th century artistic movement that focused on nature and the sublime (The Hudson River School was during the time of Romanticism period of art and the Romanticism movement was not just about nature). The Hudson River School is commonly associated with the painter Thomas Cole as he credited with being the founder of the Hudson River School. Art of the Hudson River School follows nature, natural light sources, and a lack of people.
 The Oxbow, 1836. Thomas Cole (American, 1801–1848) Oil on canvas. 
Before any mention of the Hudson River School was made, page 346 mentioned Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. What is not a commonly known fact is that Jefferson was very much influenced by Renaissance architecture as there are certain aspects found in Jefferson's Monticello found in Andrea's Palladio's Villa Rotonda. Obviously the front of both building are very similar; both have a cornice supported by column (though Villa Rotonda are Ionic and Monticello is Doric). Furthermore, both buildings have a pediment that contain decorations. Villa Rotonda has a high relief carved into the pediment, but the Monticello has a window in the pediment (see picture). Moreover, it is the strikingly similar floor plan of the buildings that demonstrate the influence. The are both shaped into a rectangle with  branching wings. Though American had a policy of not interfering with European or British affairs they could not escape the genius of European art.

Monticello and Below Floor plan of Monticello

Floor Plan of Villa Rotonda and Below Villa Rotonda
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 23, 2013 at 1:31 PM

    This is very insightful, especially the correlation between art and values of Europe and America. This really does show no matter how much you try to avoid something, like the problems of Europe eventually through one way they'll come through and influence you even in the slightest way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 23, 2013 at 8:42 PM

    It is very interesting to see that although the Americans tried to lose contact with the European countries, the European roots of the colonists did not prevent them to venture into Europeanized style of art. Thus, in a way, it was inevitable that the Americans were going to involve themselves in European affairs.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownSeptember 27, 2013 at 2:31 PM

    This is really interesting, Katheline! I was a bit confused by the book's explanation and this definitely helps clear things up.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)