Hudson River School (Noun)
Meaning
The first coherent school of American art; active from 1825 to 1870; painted wilderness landscapes of the Hudson River valley and surrounding New England.
Classification
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects.
Examples
- The Hudson River School was a colony of artists who painted directly from nature and celebrated the American landscape, particularly the Catskill Mountains and the Adirondacks.
- Asher Durand was a central figure in the Hudson River School, whose emphasis on accurate depictions of the natural world influenced generations of American artists.
- Thomas Cole, a British-born painter, founded the Hudson River School and championed the preservation of the American wilderness through his works.
- The Hudson River School's prominence eventually gave rise to the Barbizon School, a French landscape movement, as well as the American Luminist movement.
- Frederic Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt were protégés of Thomas Cole's in the Hudson River School and created delicate works that depicted shimmering effects of light.