Reading Notes
Landscape and Indigenous Peoples in American Painting
European Photography and Realism
Thomas Cole
The Oxbow (View from mt. Holyoke, Northampton, MA after a Thunderstorm, 1836
● Landscape painting in America was mainly done by The Hudson River School
○ Romantic panoramic landscape views and the country’s relationship to the
land
○ Thomas Cole referred to as the leader
● The Oxbow addresses the moral question of the direction of America as a
civilization
○ Dark, stormy, and wild on the left
○ Lighter and more developed on the right
○ Tiny artist at the bottom center turns to the viewer as if asking for input
● Reflections and moods appealing to the public
Albert Bierstadt
Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, 1868
● Hudson River School artist
● Used landscape to address moral and spiritual concerns
