hudson river school was america’s first true artistic fraternity--it characterizes the artistic body, its new york origins, its landscape subject matter, and often literally its subject. the school was influential 1850-1875 and emerged initially under the influence of thomas cole

cole’s style was marked by dramatic forms and vigorous technique, reflecting the british aesthetic theory of the Sublime in nature. In the representation of american landscape, the application of the Sublime was unprecedented, and accorded with a growing appreciation of the wild

following the death of cole, durand exemplified the fresh ideal of naturalism for the second-generation painters. he ardently promoted the practice of painting outdoors from humble natural objects as the route to learning and refining one’s art as opposed to learning from others

somewhat exceptional were church and bierstadt, who in a measure extended the heroic landscape ambitions of cole after his death. bierstadt was among the earliest visitors to yosemite, and produced many large paintings of that region

church enjoyed the privilege and distinction of being cole’s student, but supplanted his teacher’s literary and historical conceits with scientific, expeditionary ones—church was stirred by the travel accounts and scientific tracts of the german naturalist alexander von humboldt

on the large and highly wrought paintings that church executed based on the sketches from those journeys, he secured his lasting reputation and became, with bierstadt, the best known and most successful painter of his generation

second-generation painter sanford robinson gifford built a reputation as a master of light and soft atmosphere. radiant sunlight and filmy atmosphere mark his most memorable paintings