The Hudson River School was a group of painters that came out of the Hudson River Valley, New York, in the mid-19th century. Their work is characterized by light- based composition and plein air painting. Their subject material is often related to the pastoral mountains and valleys of the American wild.
Most of these painters worked in a time of national turmoil and unrest. They were heavily influenced by the sublime and the real and encounterable presence of God in creation. They portray the ideal by overlaying the real.
Not only are their works stunning, but I think they teach us a new way to gaze at landscapes.
In our troubled and hectic world, we are faced with many challenges that can make it hard to stop and take time to view the landscape around us. Too often, we become caught up in the sludge of our everyday lives and the problems of the sinful fallen world that we can be tempted in two common ways: firstly, to flee into nature as a distraction from the craziness that surrounds us, and secondly, to never find space to appreciate beauty because of the world’s turmoil.
While the goal of the Hudson River School painters was to closely imitate nature as the pinnacle of human lived experience, I think we, as viewers now, can appreciate the landscape in a different way.
I want to draw our attention to the painting The Old Homestead by James McDougal Hart. This painting depicts people returning to a homestead in a horse-drawn carriage along a tree-dappled road crossing a small creek. The landscape is soft and peaceful, with animals grazing in the front pastures. The homestead itself is set off in the background and looks mildly run-down and unused.
This painting was created during the Civil War, and Hart captures the beauty, simplicity, and everydayness of life while still contrasting the landscape with the rumor and accounts of war.
This work allows us to see the dichotomized world we live in. We can find the beauty of nature, the presence of God, and the experience of joy while still being confronted by the war, pain, and suffering that people inflict upon each other. I find that these paintings serve as an encouragement to look with honesty and sincerity at everything around us.