Page 20 - 2018 Mar-Apr Art-i-facts

Autumn Afternoon, Greenwood Lake, 1873, By Jasper Francis Cropsey (American, 1823–1900), Oil on canvas, 11 x 19 ½ inches.
“Painting a Nation” Showcases

Distinct American Painting Style

American artists set out to blaze a unique artistic trail in the visual vocabulary to include subjects along the Atlantic Coast
early 19th century by developing their own distinctly American and Far West, which reflected the expansion of the United
landscape narrative. In doing so, they developed the first States during the mid-19th century. The Higdon Collection
native school of painting in the United States. also includes a selection of still-life paintings that complement
Hudson River landscape themes by interpreting nature in an
Called the Hudson River School, it isn’t a physical institution indoor setting.
or academy, but is a term used to describe a grand, romantic
style of landscape painting championed by its founders. This exhibition organized by the Gibbes Museum of Art in
Charleston, South Carolina features works by significant
Nearly two dozen examples of that effort are part of “Painting American artists including Albert Bierstadt, William Bradford,
a Nation: Hudson River School Landscapes from the Higdon Jasper Francis Cropsey, William Hart and William Trost
Collection,” which is on exhibit at the Polk Museum of Art at Richards.
Florida Southern College March 10 through May 20.
The exhibition showcases the private collection of Charleston
Together, these paintings celebrate the picturesque beauty residents Ann and Lee Higdon. Natives of New York, the
of the United States and reflect the collective desire of the Higdons developed an interest in art as teenagers. They often
Hudson River painters to develop an American visual language visited museums and found themselves drawn to Hudson
that was independent of European schools of painting. Prior River School paintings. After marrying and purchasing a 19th
to this effort, American artists had looked to Europe for century home overlooking the Hudson River, they began to
aesthetic themes and painterly methods of depicting the collect paintings of the Hudson River School in the 1980s.
world around them. For nearly 40 years, their interest in this artistic period has
endured, resulting in the collection of works in this exhibition.
The second generation of Hudson River School painters —
many of whose works are in this exhibition — extended the

20 Art-i-facts • March-April 2018 • www.polkarts.org