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Hudson River School Art

HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL STYLE

Considered the first major American painting movement, the Hudson River School emerged in the first half of the 19th century with landscape paintings that celebrated the young country’s natural beauty. Most of its leading painters were based in New York City where they exchanged ideas and traveled to the nearby Hudson River Valley and Catskills Mountains to re-create their vistas. At a time when the city was increasingly dense, the Hudson River School artists extolled the vast and pristine qualities of the American landscape, a sentiment that would inform the conservation movement.

American art was dominated by portraiture and historical scenes before Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School, began painting the Catskill Mountains in 1825. While the Hudson River School was informed by European art aesthetics, particularly the British focus on the sublime in nature, it was a style imbued with nationalism. The landscape painters who followed and studied under Cole would expand their focus from the Northeastern United States to places across the country, their work shared through prints and portfolios promoting an appreciation for the American wilderness — Niagara Falls, the mountain ranges that dot the American West and more — as the style blossomed during the mid-19th century.

Cole’s student Frederic Edwin Church as well as painters such as Albert Bierstadt, John Frederick Kensett, Asher Brown Durand and others became prominent proponents of the Hudson River School. The American art movement also had close ties to the literary world, including to authors like William Cullen Bryant, Henry David Thoreau and James Fenimore Cooper who wrote on similar themes. Although by the early 1900s the style had waned, and modernism would soon guide the following decades of art in the United States, the Hudson River School received renewed interest in the late 20th century for the dramatic way its artists portrayed the world.

Find a collection of authentic Hudson River School paintings, drawings and watercolors and more art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Hudson River School
Artist: Alfred Thompson Bricher
Scene in the White Mountains by Alfred Thompson Bricher (American, 1837-1908)
Located in New York, NY
Painted by Hudson River School artist Alfred Thompson Bricher (1837-1908) , "Scene in the White Mountains" is oil on panel, measures 5.5 x 9.75 inches, and is signed and dated 1864 a...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil, Panel

Under a Divided Sky, Seascape of Shipwreck
Located in Greenwich, CT
A romantic and moving work by on of America's top Coastal painters of the 19th century! A large-scale and impressive work with lovely light. This painting can hold a large spot. It is in a classic 19th century marine style frame, 22 Karat gold. The size of the canvas inside the frame is 30.25 x 50.25. Bricher sketched and painted along the New England coast, depicting long stretches of shore under varying skies of Massachusetts and Maine. Under a Divided Sky is a departure from his often calm or fair views. Bricher focused upon an old wreck that is a moving and poetic reminder of man’s vulnerability in relation to the vicissitudes of the sea. To heighten this feeling, Bricher has imparted a contrast to the sky. It is either a clearing as a storm departs, which would be a metaphor for hope or the storm is impending, which parallels the tragedy at hand. Bricher was a second-generation Hudson River painter but as his career progressed he became engrossed with depictions of the coast as opposed to the landscapes he often did in the 1860’s and early 1870’s. The artists that had the greatest influence on him were Martin Johnson Heade, Fitz Hugh Lane...
Category

1880s Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Lifting Fog, Grand Manan
Located in New York, NY
Monogrammed lower left: ATBricher
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil

Moonlight Seascape
Located in New York, NY
Monogrammed lower left: ATBRICHER
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

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Seascape by George Herbert McCord (American, 1848-1909)
Located in New York, NY
"Seascape," by Hudson River School artist George Herbert McCord (1848-1909) is oil on canvas and measures 18.07 x 30.13 inches. The work which comes from a private collection in Birmingham, Alabama is signed “G.H. McCord A.N.A.” at the lower left. The work is framed in a beautiful, period appropriate frame, and ready to hang. A member of the second generation of Hudson River School painters, George Herbert McCord is known for his atmospheric landscape and marine paintings which capture a variety of locales and are executed in a variety of media—including oil, pastel, and watercolor. McCord was born in 1848 in New York City, where he lived and worked his entire life. After 1883, he kept an additional studio in Morristown, NJ. McCord traveled throughout North America, painting in the Berkshire, Adirondack and Laurentian mountain ranges, the Hudson River Valley, the Coast of New England, the Upper Mississippi, and Florida, which had become popular among Eastern vacationers. He was among a select group of artists commissioned by the Santa Fe Railroad to paint the Grand Canyon, and also participated in a special painting excursion to the Erie Canal. His travels in Europe were equally expansive, taking him to England, Scotland (having been commissioned by Andrew Carnegie to paint the scenery around his castle there), France, the Netherlands, and Italy. McCord was well-educated, having attended Claverack College amidst the Catskills in Claverack, NY, which provided instruction in classical, French, German, English, music, painting, military, commercial, telegraphic and agricultural studies. He also studied with the accomplished painter and inventor of Morse code, Samuel F.B. Morse, and with the Scottishborn landscape painter, James Fairman. McCord was active in numerous art clubs and institutions in New York, including the National Academy of Design, which elected him an Associate member in 1880, the American Watercolor Society, the Brooklyn Art...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Creek Meets River: Hudson River School Landscape Painting of Water and Mountains
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Category

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Marsh and Meadows
Located in San Francisco, CA
Oil on panel Signed and titled on verso.
Category

2010s Hudson River School Art

Materials

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Romantic American School Fall Forest Interior Impressionist Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American impressionist fall forest oil painting. Oil on canvasboard. Finely painted and housed in a period giltwood frame.
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1890s Hudson River School Art

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Delaware Gap
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A finely detailed oil landscape of the Delaware Gap attributed to French American artist Regis Francois Gignoux (1816-1882). Gignoux was born in Lyon, France, and began his studies i...
Category

Mid-19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

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Delaware Gap
Delaware Gap
H 24.25 in W 37.5 in D 1.25 in
Hudson River School Style Painting, c. 1900
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Untitled, c. 1900 Oil on canvas 16 x 24 in. Framed: 22 3/4 x 31 x 2 in. Signed lower right
Category

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Landscape in the Hudson Valley by Worthington Whittredge (American, 1820-1910)
Located in New York, NY
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Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Hudson River Inlet, 1885 by American artist Frank Anderson (American: 1844-1891)
By Frank Anderson
Located in New York, NY
Hudson River Inlet, 1885 by Hudson River School artist Frank Anderson (1844-1891) is oil on canvas. The work measures 15.13 x 24.25 inches ...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Woodland Waterfall by John Frederick Kensett (American: 1816-1872)
Located in New York, NY
JOHN FREDERICK KENSETT (1816-1872) Woodland Waterfall Oil on canvas 14 x 12 inches Signed lower right
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

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Lake Mohonk by Hudson River Artist Nelson Augustus Moore (American, 1824-1902)
By Nelson Augustus Moore
Located in New York, NY
A rare depiction of Lake Mohonk, this painting by Hudson River School artist Nelson Augustus Moore (1824-1902) features Sky Top Tower and the serene natural surroundings of the historic Mohonk Mountain House. This 19th century oil painting on canvas measures 12 x 17.75 inches. The painting is signed and dated at the lower right, signed again and titled "Lake Mohonk" on the verso. The painting is framed is ready to hang. Nelson Augustus Moore was born on August 2, 1824, in Kensington, CT. His artistic studies began under the tutelage of Thomas Cummings and Daniel Huntington in New York City. After returning home to Connecticut, Moore taught drawing classes and also opened a photography business. He and his brother operated this daguerreotype studio in Hartford, CT until 1864 when Moore chose to return to landscape painting. His landscapes consisted mostly of New England subjects. He kept a studio in New York, painting in the same building as Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, James Hart and William Hart. Nelson Augustus Moore, while sharing in many ideologies with his contemporaries, felt no need to travel vast distances in search of grandiose and spectacular landscapes. He held a particular delight in the peaceful harmony of the local American countryside...
Category

19th Century Hudson River School Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique American Sunset Landscape Hudson River School Framed Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Important framed 19th century Hudson River School landscape. Possibly estate stamped. Housed in an impressive period frame. Oil on canvas.
Category

1860s Hudson River School Art

Materials

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Antique American School Impressionist Sunset Hudson River School Oil Painting
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Antique American Hudson River School sunset landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas, circa 1874. Signed in monogram. Housed in a giltwood frame. Image size, 30L x 22H.
Category

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Hudson River School art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Hudson River School art available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add art created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, orange, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Ralph Albert Blakelock, Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Jasper Francis Cropsey, and John Frederick Kensett. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Oil Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Hudson River School art, so small editions measuring 2 inches across are also available. Prices for art made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $400 and tops out at $875,000, while the average work sells for $13,267.

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