American Romanticism

The Hudson River School

Romantic Period in America 1828-1865

Romanticism as 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.

General Principles 1. Belief in natural goodness of human

beings, that man in a state of nature would behave well but is hindered by civilization. The figure of the "Noble Savage" is an outgrowth of this idea.

2. Sincerity, spontaneity, and faith in emotion as markers of truth. (Doctrine of sensibility)

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

Principles, continued 4. Nature as a source of

instruction, delight, and nourishment for the soul;

return to nature as a source of inspiration and wisdom;

celebration of man’s connection with nature;

life in nature often contrasted with the unnatural constraints of society.

Principles, continued 5. Affirmation of the values of democracy and

the freedom of the individual. (Jacksonian Democracy)

6. High value placed on finding connection with fresh, spontaneous elements in nature and self.

7. Aspiration after the sublime and the wonderful, that which transcends mundane limits.

Frederick Edwin Church, Niagara (1857)

8. In art, the sublime, the grotesque, the picturesque, and the beautiful with a touch of strangeness all were valued above the Neoclassical principles of order, proportion, and decorum. (Hudson River School of painters)

Principles, continued 9. Interest in the “antique”: medieval tales

and forms, ballads, Norse and Celtic mythology; the Gothic.

10. Belief in perfectibility of man; spiritual force immanent not only in nature but in mind of man.

 11. Belief in organicism rather than Neoclassical rules; development of a unique form in each work.

The Hudson River School Thomas Cole (1801-1848)

Asher B. Durand (1796-1886)

Thomas Doughty (1793-1856)

Second Generation (luminists):

Frederick Edwin Church

Jasper Cropsey

Albert Bierstadt

(Picture is Kindred Spirits by Asher B. Durand.)

Subjects “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)

Thomas Cole, The Ox-Bow (1836)

Thomas Cole, The Hunter’s Return (1845)

Thomas Cole, Home in the Woods (1847)

Thomas Cole, Daniel Boone Sitting at the Door of his Cabin on the Great Osage Lake, Kentucky, 1826

Hudson River Style 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, 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

Sublime, Beautiful, 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

Albert Bierstadt, A Storm in the Rocky Mountains (1866)

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

Thomas Cole, The Titan’s Cup (1833)

Elements of allegory as well as the picturesque

Tiny figures and objects (boats, temples) within the cup represent a civilization.

Questions?