Customer Reviews

Hudson River School: Masterworks from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

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2003's "Hudson River School" is the catalogue, in hardcover, of a remarkable exhibition of art by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. The book contains a brief introduction to the Hudson River School genre of nature scenes and landscapes, popularized by a group of American artists in the mid-19th century. The catalogue itself offers color plates of 57 paintings by a variety of artists, including, among others, Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Church, William Bradford, and John Kensit. The sections are organized by artist, with a brief biography and commentary on the paintings in the plates.

As the selection includes those paintings from each artist owned by the Wadsworth, readers may not necessarily find the most famous examples of each man's work. However, the selection on offer is wide ranging and superb, featuring early American landscapes mixed with others from Europe and South America. The collection is easily worth the attention of fans of the Hudson River School and highly recommended to them and to students of that genre.

If this isn't the definitive collection on the Hudson River School, then it has to be a leading contender for that title.

This is a quality piece of work: bound in green linen cloth with a sewn binding, a heavy dustjacket, and a very satisfying level of reproduction. And it isn't a "coffee table" book with semi-cheap too-glossy illustrations that weighs 6 pounds. Text accompanies each image: biographical and aesthetic background on the painter and/or the painting's location, historical significance, influences, forebearers, critical reception...

Ultimately this is a book about American art and ways of seeing and understanding the American frontier, more than it is a little trot through some pretty pictures.

Loved it. The large color plates make me want to acquire more on the Hudson River School. KC