the native Americans are a
part of the landscape--this is their place, they are in harmony with
nature
people are small
compared to the
landscape
nature is powerful but
beautiful, encloses the people (no room for
anyone else)
nature is not scary or
evil, it majestic and peaceful
light is very prominent,
strong contrast between light and dark, dark is mysterious
balanced rock,
painter wants to impress you with
the
mountains
nature is to be admired, intended
to bring us to feelings of awe
A popular subject in Europe for
landscape paintings was ruins
Cole painted a number of these paintings of European
ruins
how did taste change to paintings
of American scenery instead?
The natural environment was one
of the few things where the new United States could claim
superiority--remember that the U.S. at this point was very much a third
world country
The Mississippi is greater
than rivers in Europe (Philip Freneau)
consider the position of
Americans abroad trying to respond to Europeans who looked down on the
new United States
Abigail Adams--Europe may
have superior culture, but nature is better in the U.S. See the
whole letter here
In particular, what was unmatched
was the wildness of American
wilderness
The Leatherstocking Tales:
The Pioneers (1823), The Last of the Mohicans
his novels admired the
people who lived closer to wilderness--he regretted what was lost with
the coming
of civilization but saw civilization as the greater good
instead of copying European
novels, write about how life in the United States is different
thinking about what makes
us different (and hopefully better) as Americans
Artists played a particularly
important role
One example is Thomas Cole, one of the founders of an approach to art
that came to be known as the Hudson River School
Cole came to the US in 1818 at
the age of 17
In the 1820s his wilderness paintings were a big success
Thomas Cole, Mountain Sunrise, 1826
Thomas
Cole, Falls
of Kaaterskil, 1826
Cole had mixed feelings about the dangers of nature and the glories of
Europe, but he wrote a very influential "Essay on
American Scenery."
Very
different from earlier views. He wrote: "Nature has spread for us
a rich and delightful banquet. Shall we turn from it? We are still in
Eden; the wall that shuts us out of the garden is our own ignorance and
folly."
steps:
Americans focused on
wilderness because that was what they could brag about relative to
Europe
they draw a parallel
between wilderness and temples, great buildings
argue that we can
experience and worship God in wilderness
grows into a central
argument that experiencing wilderness brings us closer to God
Before the civil war the usual
view was that wilderness was important but what we strive for was a
balance between wilderness and civilization
Cole, The Oxbow, 1836--shows wilderness on left and agriculture
on the right
Man's
optimum environment is a blend of the wild and the civilized
Schroon Mountain,
Adirondacks, Thomas Cole, (1801-1848) United States, oil on canvas,
Cleveland Museum of Art; Cleveland, Ohio, 1838
