Rethinking the Hudson River School on the Connecticut River

I was sculling this morning along the CT River and when in Selden’s Creek, specifically, I contemplated this summer’s environment. For the past twenty-three days there have been eighteen days of precipitation make it difficult to get on the water and for the remaining five days, I have been able to admire the overcast skies from the river. This morning, the relative darkness (although that can only be expected at 6 am) seemed to bring out the subtleties of contained within a dark palette that is shared by the trees, rocks and various colors of vegetation, hitting me as scenes similar to Hudson River School but in New England instead. During the past three lectures provided by the ICA & CA, the particular location of the Hudson River Valley spurred creativity, influencing top output in the fine arts and architecture. This geography borders the New England landscape, inherently holding similar environmental similarities. I have found myself questioning the relationship between the man-made and natural in this climate as well and the influence on Classically derived style.

The near still water caused an almost disturbing inability to distinguish the real fungible difference of water and land from the reflection. In entering this space, one can acutely sense the slight movements of the Great Blue Heron and the noise of a beaver swimming, which jolts me out of the unreal and back to the present. In seeing living or manmade forms, it is easier to distinguish the real (actual water and land) from the overlapping reflection and solid masses. Although the below image by artist Leif Nilsson (a fellow Chester, CT resident) is of the Connecticut River shows the River during autumn, the mix of land, water and air is apparent. The rippling water permeates the heavy, moist atmosphere, highlighted in the painterly brushstrokes, making it difficulty in distinguishing between the real and idealized images (a la Hudson River School).

See: http://www.nilssonstudio.com/ for details

Movements and imperfections in the quiet wake, resonates with me in the manner that light refracts over distance. Scofield lights also fracture light rays with hazy features in out beautiful hand blown restoration glass we use in our fixtures. The glass, made in Germany, is a piece of art in itself. The natural weight of gravity that moves the striations over time, letting only a component, and generally ignored piece of historic lighting, command a different, intensified experience. With the installation of restoration glass, the lighting becomes a moving medium that carries mystery in the way that it cannot be controlled by man-made regulation.

These movements in the glass make you pause and appreciate the beauty between the opaque and clear, solid and liquid. On the River, within the melancholy of the Creek, beauty comes from what is natural. The view is slightly different each day given the light, flowering, animals and birds. The landmarks change slightly through natural causes, no two items of the same species being the exactly the same, nor any day looking exactly the same, however, the image or essence of the River is frequently idealized. The artistry lies in the wonder and curiosity of slight variation preserved by each image. A similar ideal is visible in the Hudson River style, but besides creating something of beauty, the idealized exchanges and compromises with the natural to complete the image, making it extraordinary.

The Ideal through History: Ideas of Progress

Kindred Spirits by Asher B. Durand (1849 CE)

On June 17th, Dr. Linda Ferber discussed the Hudson River School painters as representing the “Geography of the Ideal” and articulating the picturesque landscape with poetic elegance. Continuing the conversation from the previous week, the slides progressed from less representational to more interpretive, while maintaining the sublime. Similar to many movements, first a fascination develops, followed by idealized depictions that highlight an almost supernaturally influenced perfection. Take the transformation from early Greek temples in places like Paestum, Italy to the unreal proportions and elegance of the Pantheon.

Ognissanti Maesta by Giotto (c. 13th Century CE)

Or, in Renaissance aesthetic, the transition from Giotto’s flat, Byzantine-influenced Maesta to the Golden Era of the Italian Renaissance with Filippo Lippi’s undertaking that blossoms in ethereal magnificence and the beauty of emotive connection. Ok, enough. The manner that concepts develop in artistic circles is not a novel one, but validates the movement from early etchings of Hudson River School artists (HRS) to the mastery of the scenery by the likes of Asher Durand and Albert Bierstadt. However, it must be recognized that the cognition of ideal changes over time with society’s evaluation of the ideal. Dr. Ferber seemed to indicate that the Hudson River School design reflected the dominant Victorian conventions and values.

Madonna and Child with Two Angels by Filippo Lippi (c. 1450 CE)

Victorian America was obsessed with the expanse of the West, the sublime beauty of open ranges and landscapes. The imagery gains such prominence that over time the river view of the Hudson entered the vernacular. Tableware was ubiquitous and conspicuous deferral to the values invested in the scenes being completely American. As these images became more and more present, they were canonized and simplified in ideal forms and vice versa. This exchange between more popular culture conventions and the fine art development over the course of the 19th Century created an environment that led to a natural progression towards the ideal.

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