About the Artist

Asher B. Durand is best known for his dramatic landscapes and his skill at capturing the drama and power of nature in art. His  paintings convey an immense reverence for the natural landscape in all its grandeur. He infused his art with a strong sense of joyfulness and optimism and believed that nature reinforces the importance of God in the world of man. Durand filled his paintings with a sense of cooperative virtue and American vitality. Durand and Thomas Cole were colleagues as well as kindred spirits, and they often explored the  Adirondack Mountains together. In 1845 he was elected as president of the National Academy of Design.

The Hudson River School

1825-1875

The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement founded by Thomas Cole in 1825. The style was influenced by European romanticism. The artists shared common design aesthetics uniting them as a school despite their distinctive styles. The painters focused on the American wilderness, particularly the Hudson River Valley as well as the Catskill Mountains and Adirondack Mountains. The paintings were spectacular and dramatic reflecting the wilderness environment. The artists moved their studios out of doors and sketched directly from nature focusing on the drama of light and shadow. Many paintings depict a  rugged landscape, dramatic sunrise or ominous storm clouds brewing in the distance. The works were painstakingly detailed and celebrate Gods divine handiwork in nature.

The mid 1850s was a time of unprecedented development for the young nation, and the Hudson River painters depicted the vastness and beautify of a country proud of its natural resources. They  embraced nature and showed a remarkable attention to detail within the natural landscape. This school popularized the idea of  Manifest Destiny and came to symbolize American vitality, independence and nationalism. Today, works by the Hudson River school artists are treasured as the first uniquely American school of art and for their beauty and significance to art, history and culture

Key Descriptive Words  and Phrases associated with the Hudson River School-  unspoiled nature, atmospheric lighting, primeval landscape, theatrical, Catskill, Berkshire, White Mountains, Walt Whitman, American Transcendentalists, spiritual transformation, dramatic instincts, large scale canvasses, Luminist, Romantic school, wilderness, New York, symbolic language, realism,  Western Expansion and Manifest Destiny.

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