Edward Minoff and the Hudson River Fellowship

EDWARD MINOFF AND THE HUDSON RIVER FELLOWSHIP

The Hudson River School is perhaps the most uniquely American form of realist painting to emerge from the United States. Founded in the mid-19th century by Thomas Cole, it inspired a generation of adventurous painters to depict the grandeur of the Hudson River Valley and the American landscape in a manner that built on the traditions of the past, while embracing a new aesthetic and ethos. Painters like Martin Heade, Asher B. Durand, and Frederick Church were the most celebrated American artists of their time. However, by the turn of the century, their prestige had declined as the new era of modernism took hold. For true connoisseurs of realist art, the luster of their beautiful work has never faded, and today, a truly special group of artists are working to revive this great tradition aspiring to return it to its greatest heights.

In 2008, a group of artists from the Grand Central Atelier that included Jacob Collins, Travis Schlaht, and Nick Hiltner traveled together to Normandy, France to make plein air sketches of the countryside and seashores. The artists began to explore how their sketches might translate into more ambitious studio works. The artists would continue their painting inquiry in the Catskill Mountains. The project grew into an artist residency called the Hudson River Fellowship. The residency has flourished and welcomed over 250 artists.

The program continues today in Northwestern, CT. The artists lodge on the magnificent campus of The Hotchkiss School. The prestigious three-week residency awards twenty artists the opportunity to live and work together to make landscape paintings in some of the same locations as the early Hudson River School masters.

One of the artists on the original trip to Normandy was the painter and GCA instructor, Edward Minoff. A founding member of the Fellowship, Minoff has witnessed its entire evolution, and he still attends each year as a Senior Fellow. He shares with us his thoughts about the ways in which the Fellowship has journeyed from its 19th Century roots.

Jacob Collins

"It was during that trip to Normandy that I made some of my first plein air sketches. At the time, I thought they turned out really well, but when I returned to my studio and tried to develop a finished studio painting from them, I realized that I didn't have nearly the amount of information that I wanted. I knew then that I had to spend more time in nature".

Study by Edward Minoff

Around the same time, in the Fall of 2009, the Metropolitan Museum of Art staged a major retrospective of the art of Asher B. Durand. Looking at Durand’s work was a revelation for Minoff and his fellow artists. "That particular show included the plein air sketches and pencil drawings that he used to inform his finished paintings. It helped us to understand his process and how to move forward with our own. That was when Jacob Collins began looking for locations for us to visit and paint." Thus the fellowship was born.

Nick Niltner

Zoey Frank Peter Sakievich

While one might assume that today’s HRF seeks to adhere to methods and processes used by the original Hudson River School painters, Minoff disagrees. "There's so much about what they were doing that we simply don't know. I wouldn't say that we're trying to reproduce their process-but rather that we've taken a GCA approach to landscape painting. We’re using our conceptual understanding of form, and the anatomy of the landscape to make our paintings. It's a philosophical commitment to painting -- not just what we see -- but what we understand of our subject. It's similar to what we do in the figure room. We study anatomy and structure, and the way that light falls onto these forms. By the time we get around to painting the figure, the model who is standing in front of you, is more like an inspiration or a roadmap. By applying our understanding of all these concepts to the figure model and, importantly, not entirely static figure model, we're working more theoretically. I think that same process defines the Hudson River Fellowship’s approach to making landscape paintings. You can see elements of this approach in paintings by Albert Bierstadt. His compositions were prodigious -- but if we look at the details of each leaf and stone -- we can see that through careful study, he had an informed understanding of each of these elements; that he took the time to envision himself stepping on each stone or touching each leaf. It's a unique approach. I don't think that anyone else is doing exactly what we are now. A close observation of nature is essential to my process -- but my work is mainly imaginative -- and not just of one scene but rather an experience."

The idea of using form-thinking as a mode for understanding all aspects of physical nature, from figures to landscapes, is an approach that Minoff believes was significantly marginalized with the invention of photography – and the impressionistic approach to painting that followed.

"Impressionism began, I think, when people observed the mechanism of the camera. They saw how light travels through a lens and then falls onto a plate. That's when the light itself became the subject rather than the intrinsic meaning of the objects themselves. For me, the light-effect is important but it's just one element of what constitutes the painting".

Thomas Cole

Minoff believes that the philosophical perspective of painters in the present day HRF differs as well. "Artists like Cole and Durand were deeply religious and believed that in making their paintings they were communing with God. I wouldn't say that I'm looking at the world in the same way. However, I do think that there's something about being in nature and observing all of its grandeur that reminds me of how improbable the universe really is and how lucky all of us are to even be here at all. Imagine if we lived in a world where bees didn't pollinate flowers and someone tried to describe the process in purely theoretical terms... how absurd that would sound! I don't know that I'm finding God in nature but there's definitely a transcendental quality about the experience. I've learned about the underground systems of fungus that permeate the root systems of trees deep in the soil -- that will nourish some or deny resources to others based on some determination of which trees are the most fit to survive. It's almost as if the entire forest is governed by a universal consciousness. It's both inspiring and humbling at the same time." While prevailing faiths might evolve or even wane over time, the artists of the HRF have found their own path to the same idea of the 'Sublime' that inspired their artistic forebears.

Asher B. Durand

Minoff's practice in the field has cultivated insights into the nature of landscape painting that only come with many years of practice and he often considers the ways in which our modern perspectives might differ from the old world.

Edward Minoff Sam Davis

"The concept of nature had a very different meaning for people in past centuries. Mountains and oceans were perilous to cross before modern means. For someone then, the sight of a whale represented oil and fuel. I, on the other hand, look at all of these things now and I'm simply delighted. What we still do have in common with the Hudson River School artists is a reverence for nature and a sense of our smallness within it"

Edward Minoff

Painters like Cole are also considered to be early adherents to the conservation movement. He recognized the impact that industrialization was having on the land and began to have serious reservations, eventually advocating to protect the land by limiting development. Given the current conversation around climate and pollution, Cole stands as an early inspiration for us all on this issue.

Edward Minoff at the Fellowship

As anyone who has ever tried their hand at landscape painting knows, the task is often physically demanding and sorely lacking in the comforts of the studio, but Minoff finds these challenges motivating. "Painting in the field on a hot day can be hard when the wind is blowing and the bugs are biting but it's so much fun to be outside and I wouldn't want to miss the excitement that comes with that. I grew up in the city where everything is manmade and artificial and being out there is incredibly refreshing. I've been doing this for so long now and my understanding of nature is cumulative but I still see and learn something new every time."

Emily Lee Jacob Gabriel

One challenge that modern technology has presented is the near exclusivity of digital images and Minoff encourages us to take every opportunity to view these paintings in person.

Patrick Okrasinski Eric Leichtung

"I want people to be aware of what they're missing when they're just looking at their phone screen. There have been many times when I was fascinated by a painting that I saw online and then felt very differently about it when I saw it in person and sometimes it can work the other way around as well. My paintings are always painted without the use of photos, so they do not necessarily compress well when photographed. Seeing these paintings in real space is a completely different experience."

Kate Donovan and Daniel Faiella Lauren Sansaricq Diana Buitrago

Minoff especially values the communal aspects of painting with the HRF and the unique possibilities that arise from bringing so many talented artists into a common space "The idea was always about trying to bring the world's best landscape painters together so that we could all learn from and inspire each other. We've been so fortunate to have incredible artists join us both as fellows and guests. Bringing artists together is such an important and wonderful part of the HRF experience".