American Romanticism
In the mid-1850s there was a new artistic movement in America that was an interpretation of Romanticism. American Romanticism while still focusing on landscapes and nature had a slightly different view of why it should be celebrated. The focus was the unknown, the new frontier that was the American West. It also emphasized the idea of American pride and superiority.
The Hudson River School was a group of artists who worked in the Studio Building on New York’s West Tenth Street. This was the first such artists’ space at the time and included artists such as: Thomas Moran, Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Edwin Church and Asher B. Durand. Moran and Cole found the sublime in untouched lands such as Yosemite, the Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains. Cole was also fond of painting the Catskills which were by the Hudson River. This can be seen in the painting “View on the Catskill- Early Autumn”. It shows the beauty of the Catskill but also the life people can have around it. These people are able to have leisure time and be able to connect with nature on many different levels. Many Americans had not seen these places in person so the paintings caused awe, terror and boundlessness. Bierstadt, Church and Durand were more focused on the sublime during the westward expansion. Their paintings of the sublime landscapes were what many Americans thought all of west America looked like.
Many American Romanticism paintings were created in order to encourage people to start moving west. This idea that drove people to move West was called Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the idea that the US was destined by God to expand its dominion and for them to spread democracy and capitalism across the continent. Not only was it used to encourage expansion but it also influenced the removal of Indigenous peoples. There was also this idea of moving to beautiful untouched places which contributed to the want to move. Being able to build something of their own and owning the land was appealing to many. Paintings such as “The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak” and “Merced River, Yosemite Valley” by Bierstadt are examples of this kind of advertisement for the west. Having a sublime landscape that evokes this kind of awe in the viewer. While there are indigenous peoples in the painting the focus is not on them but more on what settlers could expect in ways of resources and beauty. They are miniscule and look as if they can be easily removed.
American Romanticism had a few different characteristics such as: nature and the great unknown, the ideal that any person can achieve anything they set their minds to, and the power of the universe. American Romanticism was a movement that entirely belonged to the United States; this was the first time in history that this had happened. It was unique due to the fact most other countries would not have the same motives for Romanticism that the United States had. Many of the countries that explored Romanticism were already developed and having to go back to nature where most of the United States was still in nature in many parts.