The Poetry of Nature
The paintings in The Poetry of Nature reveal the natural wonders that sparked the first artistic movement in the United States. The American landscape inspired a loosely knit group of 19th-century artists to create paintings that present nature as spiritually renewing and culturally defining. Sketching outdoors and composing their ideal visions of the landscape in their studios, these artists filled their canvases with majestic mountains, tranquil valleys, enchanting forests, shimmering lakes, and luminous skies. Such views of nature forged an essential part of America鈥檚 national identity as people sought respite from rapidly expanding cities during an age of industrial progress.
While some artists traveled around the continent, this exhibition highlights the movement鈥檚 roots in New York鈥檚 Hudson River Valley; the Catskills, Adirondacks, and White Mountains; and other locations in the eastern United States. Works by well-known artists including Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Jasper Francis Cropsey, and Sanford Robinson Gifford join lesser-known gems by Louisa Davis Minot and William Louis Sonntag鈥攚ho began his career in Cincinnati鈥攖o paint a picture of America鈥檚 promise embodied in landscape.
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The paintings in The Poetry of Nature reveal the natural wonders that sparked the first artistic movement in the United States. The American landscape inspired a loosely knit group of 19th-century artists to create paintings that present nature as spiritually renewing and culturally defining. Sketching outdoors and composing their ideal visions of the landscape in their studios, these artists filled their canvases with majestic mountains, tranquil valleys, enchanting forests, shimmering lakes, and luminous skies. Such views of nature forged an essential part of America鈥檚 national identity as people sought respite from rapidly expanding cities during an age of industrial progress.
While some artists traveled around the continent, this exhibition highlights the movement鈥檚 roots in New York鈥檚 Hudson River Valley; the Catskills, Adirondacks, and White Mountains; and other locations in the eastern United States. Works by well-known artists including Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Jasper Francis Cropsey, and Sanford Robinson Gifford join lesser-known gems by Louisa Davis Minot and William Louis Sonntag鈥攚ho began his career in Cincinnati鈥攖o paint a picture of America鈥檚 promise embodied in landscape.
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The Poetry of Nature: Hudson River School Landscapes from the New-York Historical Society
A mix of antique and contemporary silhouettes makes up this exhibition. The contemporary 鈥渟elfie鈥 owes much, arguably, to this portraiture tradition.