Romanticism
Introduction
This section of our catalogue Topics in American Art is devoted to the topic "American Romanticism." Hudson River School artists were prominent figures in this movement so articles and essays about them are presented here.
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Selected Resource Library articles and essays:
Nature and the American Vision: Masterpieces of the Hudson River School (3/18/11)
Remember the Ladies: Women Artists of the Hudson River School (5/17/10)
River Views of the Hudson River School (10/19/09)
Different Views in Hudson River School Painting; text by Judith Hansen O'Toole (4/14/08)
Art and Nature: The Hudson River School (3/7/00)
All that is Glorious: Paintings from the Hudson River School (2/24/00)
Selected from other websites:
American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School, an exhibition catalog from Metropolitan Museum of Art, fully available online as PDF, 367 pages, introduction by John K. Howat. Accessed 5/18
"The Hudson River School," excerpt of essay by Arthur Danto, "Encounters & Reflections: Art in the Historical Present" from Artchive.com
Nature's Nation: The Rise, Reign, and Legacy of American Romanticism is a 2025 article by Gemini 2.5 Pro which says: "American Romanticism was the foundational cultural language of an optimistic, expansionist young nation. It provided a framework for understanding the American landscape as a source of divine truth and national destiny. Its artistic arm, the Hudson River School, created a powerful visual mythology that both celebrated the unique beauty of the American wilderness and justified its settlement. This optimistic vision, however, was ultimately rendered inadequate by the national trauma of the Civil War, which desecrated the sacred landscape and shattered the faith in a divinely guided future." Accessed 9/25
The Poetry of Nature: Hudson River School Landscapes from the New-York Historical Society is an exhibition hosted by the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, Connecticut from January 28, 2022 through May 22, 2022. The New Britain Museum of American Art described the exhibition as follows: "A stunning array of over 40 paintings created between 1818 and 1886, The Poetry of Nature illustrates America's scenic splendor as seen through the eyes of over 25 leading Hudson River School artists, including Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, John F. Kensett, Albert Bierstadt, as well as lesser-known but important artists Josephine Walters, Christopher Pearse Cranch, and Louisa Davis Minot, among others. Its display at the NBMAA will include the addition of works by Robert S. Duncanson, the first Black artist of the Hudson River School to gain international acclaim. Drawn from the collection of the New-York Historical Society, the exhibition explores the exchange of influence among this group of artists, their favored sketching grounds, and the legacy of Hudson River School painting today... The growing number of crowded industrial cities in the East gave rise to an appreciation for pictures of the landscape untouched by man. This closely-knit group of artists, together with like-minded poets and writers, forged a self-consciously "American" landscape vision and literary voice. Both were grounded in the exploration of the natural world as a rouse for spiritual renewal and as an expression of cultural and national identity. The Hudson River and the varied scenery along its banks provided the subjects for many of their landscape paintings.".Accessed 9/23
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