In reading Philip G. Terrie's Contested Terrain, I came across a mention of the Hudson River School, a topic I had learned about as sophomore in high school. I was in a class called American Studies, which drew on forms of art in the United States (paintings, film, writing, etc.) to reflect the ideas, trends, and conflicts of the time. The Hudson River School was among some of the first topics covered in the course and one that stuck with me for some reason or another. A smaller version of Thomas Cole's The Oxbow (shown below) hung in a classroom where I frequently had English classes. It was my hope that I would revisit the topic in this course and suddenly the Hudson River School is more relevant than I could have imagined.
Hudson River School paintings portray an awe-inspiring nature, often using humans and their creations (i.e. cities) as points of comparison. Searching 'Hudson River School' on Google Images quickly relays this idea. A typical painting might show mountains rising in the distance with human in the foreground absolutely dwarfed and made powerless by the surrounding landscape. In the painting above, Cole paints himself in and, if you can see him (bottom, center), he appears minuscule and insignificant in the context of the scene.
I took a quick look at The Oxbow and Hudson River School articles on Wikipedia to remind myself of the topics. The overview section at the top of The Oxbow page mentioned that "It has been interpreted as a confrontation between wilderness and civilization, " which triggered really strong connections to our classes thus far. The Hudson River School illustrates nature as a dominating power, one which ultimately wins out. This is particularly shown in paintings where destroyed cities (for whatever reason) are enveloped by greenery. While the sense of awe remains today when we hike up a mountain, the fear, for many, seems to have diminished. People are no longer driven away by the myths and mysteries of the mountains. The idea of a struggle between man and nature is still very really, but has taken a different context. As we discuss this context further, I hope to utilize the Hudson River School as a point of comparison for the ideas and realities of each respective time.
Note: The Oxbow is actually a painting of the Connecticut River Valley - I used it as an example, because of personal relevance. The Hudson River School drew inspiration from the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding areas, including the Adirondacks.
Sources Consulted:
Contested Terrain, Philip G. Terrie
Wikipedia - The Oxbow
Google Images - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Cole_Thomas_The_Oxbow_(The_Connecticut_River_near_Northampton_1836).jpg
The Hudson River School seems like it played a significant role in influencing how society thought of wilderness, and in this case specifically the Adirondacks during this era of wilderness exploration. I remember taking note of the the difference in public perception of the park that I noticed in our readings before and after pictures such as these were introduced. Throughout the early chapters of Schneider and Terrie, the Adirondacks were seen mainly as land that would ultimately be cultivated for farming. Settlers who traveled to the wilderness may have initially sought an adventure or escape from the hardships of the current lives, but eventually had to be able to work the land in some way in order to survive. Phillip Terrie’s mention of the Hudson River School in Contested Terrain was one of the first instances in which the nature of the Adirondacks was depicted as beautiful and powerful, rather than as a potential place to farm. Although as you mention, these pictures represent more than just nature; they also show a struggle between man and nature, I appreciate that they presented this new interpretation. I believe this helped efforts to preserve the Adirondacks because people in cities and industrial areas saw the natural beauty of the landscapes. Although not everyone could actually visit this region, there is a comfort in knowing that it exists.
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