American Sublime: Sacred Landscapes of the Hudson River School

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American Sublime

Sacred Landscapes of the Hudson River School

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American Sublime

Sacred Landscapes of the Hudson River School Featuring the Collection of David and Connie Clapp

Cover: John Francis Murphy Arkville Landscape See page 16 Detail left: Thomas Bigelow Craig Fishing on the Lake See page 12

ALLY VILLAGE 200 SPRING PARK DRIVE, SUITE 105 MIDLAND, TEXAS 79705 INFO@BAKERSCHORRFINEART.COM BAKERSCHORRFINEART.COM 432.687.1268


Henry A. Ferguson American, 1842-1911

Mt. Washington Valley Oil on canvas 8 x 15 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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American Sublime

Sacred Landscapes of the Hudson River School The first true American artistic fraternity, the Hudson River School refers to a group of New York City-based landscape painters that emerged under the influence of English émigré Thomas Cole in the mid-1800s. The group worked in a style of idealized naturalism, with a passion for depicting unsettled areas of the American wilderness, beginning with New York’s Hudson River Valley. Using the river as inspiration, these painters worked in a radiant, majestic manner influenced by European Romanticism. As the 19th century progressed, elements of the Hudson River School carried forward into other important movements including tonalism, plein air, marine, and coastal painting, examples of which appear in this exhibition. The Hudson River School is credited with making the landscape, for the first time, more than a backdrop for a portrait, but a legitimate subject. For Cole and his followers, to paint the land was to commune with God. Their lofty and dramatic landscapes reflected the British aesthetic of the Sublime, or fearsome, immeasurable greatness. Their compositions, palettes and subjects were calculated to evoke strong emotions in the viewer and always a sense of awe at the beauty of creation. This concept was reinforced by the literature of the time, including that of Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Cullen Bryant and James Fenimore Cooper, who believed God and nature to be one.

philosophy that contemplation of nature led to spiritual truth. Hudson River School artists who employed Luminism in their works used special lighting techniques to convey emotion through contrasts of light and dark. For the Hudson River School, their practice as naturalists and painters included sketching and painting in nature. Leaving the comfort of their studios to hike into the wilderness to sketch on site was common. Because most of the artists were formally trained, to do so demonstrated their independence from the strictures of academia. John Constable set plein air painting as a standard for young artists as did Asher Durand whose outdoor sketches formed the basis for his landscapes painted in-studio. For many of the Hudson River School artists, discovering the wonders of upstate New York whet their appetites for exploring more of America’s native lands, particularly the American West. As a result of the travels of artists like Albert Bierstadt, John Hudon, George Innes, Worthington Whittredge, and Thomas Hill, many historic scenes have been preserved and the world of American art moved westward. The Hudson River School style was intrinsically connected to a rising sense of American identity. By capturing the unique beauty of the American landscape, their paintings of expansive, untamed lands inspired promise and potential, pride and wonder.

Related to the Sublime aesthetic was Luminism, which focused on the effects of light on subjects. Luminists were influenced by the Transcendental

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To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language; for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness, and a smile And eloquence of beauty, and she glides Into his darker musings, with a mild And healing sympathy, that steals away Their sharpness… Go forth, under the open sky, and list To Nature’s teachings, while from all around— Earth and her waters, and the depths of air— Comes a still voice— —Excerpt from Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant

George Herbert McCord American, 1848-1909

Hyde Park on the Hudson Oil on canvas 29 3/4 x 50 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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It was not that the jagged precipices were lofty, that the encircling woods were the dimmest shade, or that the waters were profoundly deep; but that over all, rocks, wood, and water, brooded the spirit of repose, and the silent energy of nature stirred the soul to its inmost depths.

­­—Thomas Cole

Thomas Hill American, 1829-1908

A Waterfall in the Sierras Oil on paper laid down on paperboard, c. 1890’s 20 1/2 x 13 3/4 inches

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The sky is the soul of all scenery. It makes the earth lovely at sunrise and splendid at sunset. In the one it breathes over the earth a crystal-like ether, in the other a liquid gold. ­­

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—Thomas Cole


William Howard Hart American, 1863-1937

Untitled Oil on canvas 11 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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James Edward Buttersworth American, 1817-1894

Naval Frigate Sailing Past Dover Castle Oil on canvas, ca. 1850-1855 24 3/4 x 30 inches Provenance: Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York Private Collection, Newtown, Connecticut

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Thomas Bigelow Craig American, 1849-1932

Fishing on the Lake Oil on canvas laid down on board 9 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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Joseph Antonio Hekking American, 1900–1973

Mountain Stream in the Adirondacks Oil on prepared millboard, 1865 9 3/4 x 14 inches Provenance: Greenwich Gallery, 1999 Private Collection, New Canaan, Connecticut

James Fairman American, 1826-1904

A Souvenir of Venice in the Bay of New York Oil on board 9 x 12 1/2 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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Jasper Francis Cropsey American, 1823-1900

Hook Mountain, From Ossining Cove on the Hudson River Oil on canvas 12 1/4 x 20 1/8 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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George Herbert McCord American, 1848-1909

Untitled Oil on board 9 1/2 x 13 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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John Francis Murphy

James McDougal Hart

American, 1853-1921

American, 1828-1901

Arkville Landscape

Among Friends

Oil on canvas 15 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

Oil on canvas, 1876 64 x 42 inches Framed: 68 1/2 x 46 inches Signed and dated lower left: James M. Hart / 1876 Provenance: Private Collection, Newtown, Connecticut Exhibited: National Academy of Design, 1876, no. 409


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Harvey Otis Young American, 1840-1901

Native American Encampment Oil on canvas, 1874 17 x 30 inches Signed lower right and dated: By H. YOUNG ‘74

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A landscape painter is only at home when he is out of doors.

—Worthington Whittredge

Wothington Whittredge American, 1820-1910

Picnic on the Hudson Oil on canvas 15 1/2 x 26 inches

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The beauties of nature had a charm, and the voice of God came to me through every motionless leaf—on every blade of grass— the odor of the flower and in every breath of air I drew. . . . ­­

—Jasper Francis Cropsey

Jerome B. Thompson American, 1814-1886

Wild Flowers Oil on canvas 14 3/4 x 11 3/4inches Provenance: Private Collection, Millerton, New York

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Levi Wells Prentice American, 1851-1935

Untitled Oil on canvas 11 1/4 x 17 1/2 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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John Henry Hill American, 1835-1907

Summer Landscape Oil on canvas 21 x 30 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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William Trost Richards

Alfred Thompson Bricher

American, 1833-1905

American, 1837-1908

New England Coast

Other Side of the Inlet

Oil on panel 10 3/4 x 14 5/8 inches Signed lower left and dated: WTR 1872

Oil on canvas 15 1/4 x 33 inches Signed lower right: A.T. Bircher

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Arthur Hoeber American, 1854-1915

A Riverside Oil on canvas 14 x 22 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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About Collectors David and Connie Clapp

David and Connie Clapp began collecting art in the 1980s in New York City. David, a Partner at Goldman Sachs, spent his weekends searching for art in New York City’s galleries. In fact, the two started their long love affair one afternoon in an art gallery in Soho. David served as the Chairman of the Board of the Museum of the City of New York, Chairman of the New York Chapter of the Arthritis foundation, Board of Hazelton, and Kent School in Connecticut. Connie was on the Board of Lincoln Center Theater, Preservation League of New York State and Foreign Policy Association. As involved as they were in New York City, they loved taking the weekends off in Millbrook, New York. In addition to country sports such as shooting, tennis, golf and fly fishing, they decorated their home in Millbrook, named Coole Park after a Yeats poem, with art appropriate to the Hudson Valley. Florida has become their final destination, and it too is filled with art and sunshine.

Carlton Wiggins American, 1848-1932

Young Boy on a Wall Oil on canvas, 1877 13 x 9 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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Detail: Antonio Hekking Mountain Stream in the Adirondacks See page 13

Daniel Kotz American, 1848-1933

The Woodland Park Oil on canvas 9 x 5 1/2 inches Provenance: The Collection of David and Connie Clapp, Millbrook, New York

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