serious gaze. Here, portraiture no longer solely fulfills a documentary function, but explores complex social and cultural issues [3].
.2 Landscape painting
, or views of nature, play a significant role in American art. The earliest American landscape paintings were topographic illustrations of farms, cities, and landmarks <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/l1.htm»,«l1»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=270»)> that were generally painted for local residents or for Europeans interested in the New World. In the colonial era, landscape views were found primarily in the backgrounds of portraits <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/l2.htm»,«l2»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=280»)>, usually to provide additional information about the sitter.
Landscape painting came to dominate American art in the 1820s, when artists began to equate the country «s unspoiled wilderness <javascript:OpenBrWindow(»images/l3.htm«,»l3«,»resizable=yes,width=230,height=250«)> with the new nation »s seemingly limitless potential. Foremost among those increasingly interested in the expressive power of landscape was the young artist Thomas Cole . Cole is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River school, a loosely knit group of American artists who actively painted landscapes between 1825 and 1875. Giving stylistic direction to a distinctly American understanding of nature, Hudson River school artists invested the land with a sense of national identity, the promise of prosperity, and the presence of God.first generation of Hudson River school artists, represented by Asher B. Durand <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/l4.htm»,«l4»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=300»)> and Cole , believed that studying the land led to enlightenment and a connection with divine harmony. Every detail absorbed their attention, from moss-covered rocks in clear streams to snowcapped mountains. For other artists, exact documentation was less important than illustrating religious and moral sentiments. Allegorical landscapes <javascript:OpenBrWindow(«images/l5.htm»,«l5»,«resizable=yes,width=230,height=220»)> are imaginary scenes with symbolic meaning, rather than representations of a particular place. Sometimes inspired by literature, these large-scale works illustrated high-minded themes that were usually reserved for history painting.industrial development pushed westward, landscape artists were documenting the American wilderness just as it was disappearing. Although George Inness « The Lackawanna Valley <javascript:OpenBrWindow(»images/l6.htm«,»l6«,»resizable=yes,width=230,height=235«)> was commissioned by a railroad company, the finished work is not a direct homage to industrialization. At his patron »s request, the artist exaggerated features of the railroad, but also prominently displayed the field of tree stumps in the foreground. Ambiguous in tone, the landscape can be read as a glorification of development or as a reminder of the price of progress [3]. The...
