About the Artist

 John Frederick Kensett earned great praise for his spiritual understanding of nature and his faithfulness to its most minute detail. He is best known for his dramatic landscapes and skill at capturing the drama and power of  waterfalls in the Berkshire Mountains. His work was romantic, yet it had a understated, more personal quality, his painting Sunrise on the Sea is an example of this. Kensett was a surprisingly original painter, he exhibited dexterity in all subjects -- dreamy mountain scenes, ominous thunderclouds and fiery sunsets.

The Hudson River School

1825-1875

The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement established by Thomas Cole in 1825. The style was greatly influenced by European romanticism. The painters shared common artistic sensibilities which united them as a school despite their distinctive styles. The painters focused on the American wilderness, particularly the Hudson River Valley as well as the Catskill Mountains and Adirondack Mountains. The paintings were spectacular and dramatic reflecting the wilderness environment. The artists moved their studios out of doors and sketched directly from nature focusing on the drama of light and shadow. Many paintings depict a picturesque woodland interior, dramatic sunrise or menacing storm clouds brewing in the distance.

The mid 1850s was a time of unprecedented development for the young nation, and the Hudson River painters depicted the vastness and beautify of a country proud of its natural resources. They embraced nature and showed a remarkable attention to detail within the natural landscape. This school popularized the concept of  Manifest Destiny and came to symbolize American vitality, independence and simplicity. Today, works by the Hudson River school artists are treasured as the first uniquely American school of art and for their beauty and significance to art, history and culture

Key Descriptive Words  and Phrases associated with the Hudson River School-  unspoiled nature, atmospheric lighting, primeval landscape, theatrical, Catskill, Berkshire, White Mountains, Walt Whitman, American Transcendentalists, spiritual transformation, dramatic instincts, large scale canvasses, Luminist, Romantic school, wilderness, New York, symbolic language, realism,  Western Expansion and Manifest Destiny.

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