American RomanticismThe Hudson River School

Romantic Period in America 1828-1865• Romanticism is a more general trend that encompasses

American Transcendentalism.• Many of the principles listed here were common to British

Romanticism, too.• The Hudson River School in American art illustrates some of

these ideas. • As we talk about these principles, think about how the

readings for today might apply.

Romanticism: General Principles• 1. Belief in natural goodness of human beings • Human beings in a state of nature would

behave well but are hindered by civilization. • The figure of the "Noble Savage" is an

outgrowth of this idea.• 2. Sensibility. Sincerity, spontaneity, and faith

in emotion as markers of truth. • 3. Individualism. Belief that what is special in

human beings is to be valued over what is representative; delight in self-analysis.

Principles, continued4. Nature as a source of instruction, delight, and nourishment for the soul. • Return to nature as a

source of inspiration and wisdom.

• Celebration of a human being’s individual connection with nature.

• Living in nature often contrasted with the unnatural constraints of society.

Principles, continued

5. Interest in the “antique”: • Medieval tales and forms• Ballads • Norse and Celtic mythology • The Gothic6. Spiritual force exists in nature and in the mind of human beings. 7. Affirmation of the values of democracy and the freedom of the individual. 8. High value placed on finding connection with fresh, spontaneous elements in nature and self.

Romantic Principles in Art

Romantic Principles

• Sublime• Grotesque • Picturesque• Organic form arising from

subject matter• Irregular and unexpected

shapes• Rough and natural rather

than refined• Grandeur of nature

Neoclassical Principles

• Order• Rules of proportion• Decorum• Symmetry • Balanced composition in

paintings• Polished in form and

technique• Nature tamed by human

beings

Frederick Edwin Church, Niagara (1857)

The Hudson River School: ArtistsThomas Cole (1801-1848)Asher B. Durand (1796-1886) Thomas Doughty (1793-1856)Second Generation

(luminists):Frederick Edwin ChurchJasper CropseyAlbert Bierstadt(Picture is Kindred Spirits by

Asher B. Durand.)

Hudson River School: Themes and Techniques

Themes

• “Home in the Wilderness” • Juncture of civilization and

wilderness: “Wilderness on the doorstep”

• Incursions of civilization and progress into a pristine wilderness.

• Harmonious integration of wilderness and civilization (Thomas Cole, The Ox-Bow)

Techniques• Juxtaposition of elements• Use of panoramic views and

small human figures to show immensity of nature and insignificance of human beings

• Distant or elevated perspective for the viewer

• Symbolic use of light and darkness

• Contrast of diverse elements to show the unity of nature

Thomas Cole, The Ox-Bow (1836)

Thomas Cole, The Hunter’s Return (1845)

Thomas Cole, Home in the Woods (1847)

Thomas Cole, Scene from Last of the Mohicans: Cora Kneeling at the Feet of Tamenund (1827)

Thomas Cole, A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountains (Crawford Notch), 1839

Beautiful, Sublime, Picturesque• Longinus, On the Sublime (CE 50)• Resulting from spirit--a spark from writer to reader--rather than

technique • Edmund Burke, Philosophical Inquiry into the Origins of Our

Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757-1759)• Immanuel Kant, Critique of Judgment (1790)• Beauty is finite; the sublime is infinite

The Beautiful: • “Feminine” qualities• Harmony• Sociability• Pastels• Sensual curves

Burke on the Sublime• Painful idea creates a sublime passion • Sublime concentrates the mind on a single

facet of experience, producing a momentary suspension of rational activity• Harsh, antisocial, “masculine”

representations exist in the realm of obscurity and brute force

The Sublime

• “Agreeable horror” results from portrayals of threatening objects• Greater aesthetic value if the pain

producing the effect is imaginary rather than real• Feelings of awe at sublime nature the aim

of certain kinds of art• Influenced Poe, the “Graveyard School” of

poetry, and Gothic novels

Thomas Moran, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1872

Frederick Edwin Church, The Heart of the Andes (1859)

Picturesque• Intermediate category between the

sublime and the beautiful• Allowed the painter to organize nature

into what Pope called a “wild civility”•William Gilpin: illustrated tours in the

1790s established the conventions

Characteristics of the Picturesque

• Ruggedness and asymmetry• Irregularity of line• Contrasts of light and

shadow• Landscape as a rundown

Arcadia• Ruined towers, fractured

rocks• Mossy banks and winding

streams• Blighted or twisted trees

• Appeal to nostalgia for preindustrial age

Thomas Cole, Roman Campagna (Ruins of Aqueducts in the Campagna di Roma), 1843

• Questions?