Since the beginning of the first third of the 19th century, landscape art has acquired aesthetic and commercial value. Now its artworks have stable demand: the antique painting prices are different, but generally high.
This period of painting in the USA is characterized by the experience of the American pioneers mastering the richness of the wild nature of America. The new tastes of art connoisseurs, who buy paintings and modern requests of the antique art dealers started to form in those times. The first trend in American landscape painting was the "Hudson River School". It was formed around 1825 and united a group of landscape artists led by Thomas Cole (1801-1848). The school got its name from the famous Hudson River, where Thomas Cole painted his first landscapes – "View on the Catskill" (1836), "Genesee Scenery" (1847), which made a great impression on the public and forced American society to truly appreciate the beauty of the wildlife of the New World. Before Cole, the subjects of landscapes were mostly cozy parks or islands of nature near big cities.
Thomas Cole View on the Catskill Early Autumn 1836-1837 SOURCE: Wikipedia
The artist's works were distinguished by a special dramatic form and expressiveness, which was reflected in the British theory of sublimity. This theory characterized a complex of non-utilitarian relationships between subject and object, usually of a contemplative nature, as a result of which the subject experiences a complex feeling of admiration, delight, awe and at the same time fear, horror, sacred awe of an object that exceeds the possibilities of his perception and understanding. At the same time, the subject feels the inner freedom and spiritual equality.
Peaceful landscapes were especially popular during the American Civil War in 1861-1865. With the spread of tourist resorts on the Hudson River, people sought to preserve the sense of beauty and tranquility that they received from trips to the valley, so the sale of paintings greatly increased. This was also explained by the fact that, at the initiative of John Constable, the main object of the paintings becomes light, its influence on the objects depicted. Constable also advises novice artists to work as much as possible on sketches and make sketches in the open air, so that later, in the studios, they can change and combine the plots and moods of the works in larger-scale versions.
One of the most important achievements of the Hudson School of Painting is considered not only that it opened Americans eyes to the beauty of the lands they inherited, which characterized the formation of a new value of the United States, but also the fact that artists were able to convey to the public the idea of preserving and caring for the untouched beauty of American nature. This prompted local authorities to create US national parks, including the Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon Parks.
Now the "Hudson River School" is highly valued by art connoisseurs and antique dealers.
Cover image: Wikipedia