A stunning array of works by the best painters of the Hudson River School compose a wonderful exhibition in our nation’s Midwest. Hurry up, however, as it’s only on view for a few more weeks! Details here!
The Wichita Art Museum in Kansas has an amazing exhibition on view through April 30. Titled “The Poetry of Nature,” the show features an impressive number of masterpieces from the Hudson River School of artists, including paintings by (among others) Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, John Kensett, and Albert Bierstadt. The paintings are on loan from the New York Historical Society and “reflect some of the prized examples from this landmark moment in American art,” the museum writes.
“The Hudson River School is pivotal in American cultural history, because the art represents the first formulation of a specifically American artistic expression. The group rose to eminence during the first half of the 19th century, as this circle of artists — together with like-minded poets and writers — forged a self-consciously American landscape vision and literary voice. They were grounded in the natural world as a resource for spiritual renewal and as an expression of cultural and national identity. The pristine, virgin forest — wild and untamed by civilization — served as a rich metaphor for American democracy and the New World. As the school emerged and rose to prominence, the Hudson River along with the Catskill, Adirondack, and White mountains provided the early subjects for their ambitious landscape paintings.”
To learn more, visit The Wichita Art Museum.
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