My email box is assailed by lots of Powerpoint Presentations which usually contain either beautiful photos accompanied by a philosophic/moralistic bla-bla with a sweet musical background or photographs of various places in the world, big cities with impressive skyscrapers, scenic views of Yosemite, aerial views of deserts, sumptuous castles throughout the world and so on. After all, with a medium-cost digital camera you can produce today excellent shots which will fill your computer with unforgettable scenery.
As I was browsing through the millionth PPS showing Yosemite rocks, I had the idea of looking for this same landscape into the paintings I collect in my computer. I was amazed to discover that these paintings are not least impressive than these photos and most of them are really the true rendition of those extraordinary sceneries. This led me to the idea of assembling paintings of the last centuries depicting north american landscapes, with the provision that these landscapes should be either broad views, mountains, rivers, seascapes or dramatic scenes featuring tempests, violent waterfalls and things like that.
Here is the result of my selection. It includes the following painters: (history of these painters is extracted from Wikipedia)
Thomas Cole (February 1, 1801 - February 11, 1848) was a 19th century American artist. He is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century. Cole's Hudson River School, as well as his own work, was known for its realistic and detailed portrayal of American landscape and wilderness, which feature themes of romanticism and naturalism.
Thomas Hill (September 11, 1829 - June 30, 1908) was an American artist of the 19th century. He produced many fine paintings of the California landscape, in particular of the Yosemite Valley, as well as the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
William Bradford (April 30, 1823 – April 25, 1892) was an American romanticist painter, photographer and explorer, originally from Massachusetts. He is known for his paintings of ships and Arctic seascapes. He published an account of his trips to the north entitled The Arctic regions, illustrated with photographs taken on an art expedition to Greenland; with descriptive narrative by the artist in London in 1873. He was a member of the Hudson River School, following their techniques and highly interested in the way light touches water and how it affects the look. He balanced many of his paintings by creating the composition of a counter subject and by placing darker colors around the edges, framing and counteracting the middle's bright light. He is probably most famous for the beauty of his paintings.
Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. While committed to the natural sciences, he was "always concerned with including a spiritual dimension in his works".
Nota bene from me regarding this painter: He's also painted extraordinary views of the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador. I didn't include it but you can click here to have a look.
Albert Bierstadt (January 8, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his large landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion. Though not the first artist to record these sites, Bierstadt was the foremost painter of these scenes for the remainder of the 19th century.
Bierstadt was part of the Hudson River School, not an institution but rather an informal group of like-minded painters. The Hudson River School style involved carefully detailed paintings with romantic, almost glowing lighting, sometimes called luminism.
Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art.
Largely self-taught, Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator. He subsequently took up oil painting and produced major studio works characterized by the weight and density he exploited from the medium. He also worked extensively in watercolor, creating a fluid and prolific oeuvre, primarily chronicling his working vacations.
Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 - August 25, 1926) from Bolton, England was an artist of the Hudson River School who often painted the Rocky Mountains. Thomas Moran's vision of the Western landscape was critical to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. Thomas Moran along with Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill, and William Keith are sometimes referred to as belonging to the Rocky Mountain School of landscape painters because of all of the Western landscapes made by this group. His pencil and watercolor field sketches and paintings captured the grandeur and documented the extraordinary terrain and natural features of the Yellowstone region. Moran's artwork was presented to members of Congress by park proponents.
These powerful images of Yellowstone fired the imagination and helped inspire Congress to establish the National Park System in 1916.
Click the images to get a full-screen picture.
 |  |  | Theodore Steele - Ohio River | Frederick Church - Niagara Falls | Thomas Moran - Near Fort Wingate, New Mexico |
 |  |  | Thomas Moran - Green River, Wyoming | Thomas Moran - Grand Canyon | Winslow Homer - The Gale |
 |  |  | Thomas Hill - Donner Lake | Thomas Hill - The Falls of Yosemite | Thomas Hill - Old Grizzly's Den Invaded |
 |  |  | Thomas Hill - Bridal Veil Falls | Thomas Hill - Alaska Scene near Juneau | Thomas Hill - A View of Yosemite Valley |
 |  |  | Frederick Church - Aurora Borealis | Thomas Cole - Evening in Arcady | Thomas Cole - Catskill Mountain House |
 |  |  | William Bradford - Icebergs | William Bradford - Arctic Whaler Homeward Bound Among the Icebergs | William Bradford - Arctic Invaders |
|  |  | Albert Bierstadt - A Storm in the Rocky Mountains | Albert Bierstadt - Seals on the Rocks | Albert Bierstadt - Rocky Mountains |
 |  |  | Albert Bierstadt - Old Faithful | Albert Bierstadt - Seal Rock, California | Albert Bierstadt - Looking Down Yosemite Valley |
Posts
