The Hudson River School: Art In The 19th Century

The Hudson River School was a group of artists based in New York City in the mid 19th Century. Primarily known for painting landscapes, the group belonged to many of the same clubs and in 1858 many of them worked at the Studio Building on West 10th Street, the first building in New York City to be built primarily as a workplace for artists.
Thomas Cole, considered to be the founder of the movement, was born in England in 1801 and emigrated to the United States in 1818. In 1825 he moved to New York City and traveled up the Hudson River to the Catskill Mountains where he painted several landscapes. Eventually he settled permanently in the Catskills. Several of the other artists also bought homes in the Catskills where they painted many of their landscapes. After his death in 1848 Asher B. Durand became the leader of the group. The artists traveled throughout North America and produced some of the first paintings of the western United States. The …show more content…
New roads were being built, steamboats were being used to travel rivers. In 1825 the Erie Canal was completed, linking the Great Lakes to New York City. The United States was becoming more urbanized and industrialized. Americans were being urged to flee the cities and move westward. American Yawp, Chapter 12.
Although the term “Manifest Destiny” was not used until 1845, many Americans for years earlier believed that based on their values westward expansion and removal of the Native Americans was justified. Many held the belief that Americans were divinely ordained by God to take the land and only they understood the virtues of agriculture. The dream of creating a democratic utopia in the West. American Yawp, Chapter 12, Introduction and Section II
In the “Oxbow” painting, on one side we see the American wilderness and all its harshness, and when we look across the river we see the land being tamed and cultivated. A utopian society created by