antebellum Art And Perspectives On Westward Expansion
In this essay I intend to look at American landscape paintings from artists throughout the Antebellum period to better understand how the American view on westward expansion may have played a role in the attitude many Americans had towards landscape paintings. How the artist’s views on westward expansion and the wilderness shifted with American values. I will begin this essay by looking through the works both written and visual by several prominent members of the Hudson river school to get a better understanding of the common viewpoint of the American wilderness. I will also take the time to observe the works from Albert Bierstadt to better understand the artist’s view at the end of the antebellum period to see what has changed and what has remained from the early antebellum artists. After establishing the commonly held beliefs of artists in the antebellum period we can compare that to the populist view of the wilderness and westward expansion to better understand if the art was fueling the culture, or reacting to the culture and if art affected culture differently at different stages in the antebellum period.
We will start our exploration of Antebellum art by looking at the institutions that encouraged artistic exploration and creation. The primary art institution during the antebellum period was the American Academy of the fine arts. This institution played almost no role in the flourishing genre of landscape painting, however, disagreements between the merchant board of directors, the president John Trumbell and the artists led 15 artists(Asher B. Durand and Thomas Cole included) to form the National Academy of Design in January of 1826. The National Academy of Design served as meeting place for Durand and Cole, they would also be prominent members in the Hudson River School. The Hudson River School was not a formal academy of art education, but instead an informal alliance of artists focusing on capturing the Hudson River Valley and surrounding area through landscape painting. Cole and Durand shared another common link, through their friend and patron Luman Reed. Barbara Dayer Gallati describes him as “One of the countries newest and most passionate collectors of art” Reed made his fortune through dry goods merchandise and funded his collection through it. Reed commissioned the first of Cole’s famous series of paintings The Course of an Empire as well as many portraits from Durand. Luman Reeds importance to the success and financial stability of the artists he was patron to cannot be understated, but, his death pushed Durand and Cole closer as individuals and their relationship transformed Durand from a portraitist to a landscape painter. To better understand how Cole had this affect on Durand we will have to understand Thomas Cole.
The first artist we will look at and possibly the most influential among all American landscape artists is Thomas Cole. Cole was the leader of the loosely affiliated Hudson River School, to get a better understanding of his impact on early American landscape painting we will look at several of his paintings and writings. First, we will analyze his writings as to synthesize the meanings of paintings we must better understand his personal philosophies. His Essay on American Scenery from the American Monthly Magazine published in 1836 will serve as our main primary source. Cole spends the first passage of this essay discussing the importance of experiencing nature to the religious experience, “Prophets of old retired into the solitudes of nature to wait the inspiration of heaven. It was on Mount Horeb that Elijah witnessed the mighty wind, the earthquake, and the fire; and heard the 'still small voice'-that voice is YET heard among the mountains! St. John preached in the desert; -the wilderness is YET a fitting place to speak of God.” Cole speaks to the utilitarianism of the state and its tendencies to destroy the wilderness, but Cole suggests that it is the duty of the fine arts to “temper the harshness of such a state” In the second passage Cole compares the American landscape to the European landscape; Cole argues that neither the American or European landscape is better but the American landscape is “of God the creator – they are his undefiled works”. Cole spends the remainder of this passage commenting on different natural beauties ranging from the waterfall to the mountain and commenting on the aesthetics while comparing them to European counterparts. The final passage gives us the perspective of many artists and poets from this time on westward expansion. “Yet I cannot but express my sorrow that the beauty of such landscapes are quickly passing away-the ravages of the axe are daily increasing – the most noble scenes are made desolate” Cole intentionally places this at the end of his essay to demonstrate why we should care about the destruction of the wilderness, Cole understands there is little to be done to slow the pace of the utilitarian state and comments “This is a regret rather than a complaint; such is the road society has to travel; it may lead to refinement in the end” Cole addresses that this progress cannot be stopped; (a narrative easily identified in his course of an empire series) however he argues we must learn to appreciate the wilderness on a deeper level than simply as a means of resources.
The first painting I want to observe of Thomas Cole’s is the A View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm or simply The Oxbow in 1836 when he was 35 years old. The Oxbow is an outlier in the context of the other paintings by Cole that we will look at as it is one of the few that was not created for a commission. The Oxbow was created as a suggestion from his friends Reed and Durand to “paint a picture expressly for the exhibition, and for sale” In this freedom to create a painting of entirely his own choosing allowed Cole to create a visual commentary on the effects of civilization on the wilderness. A self-portrait of Cole can be seen in the bottom center of the painting, seemingly an image of himself painting this very scene. The Oxbow presents a look at how American agriculture and lifestyle is leading to the degradation of the wilderness, this image seems to thematically show the effects of westward expansion. There is farmland and non-native animals grazing everywhere, boats on the river and even the smoke from a train in the top right of the painting. On the left side of the painting, there is wilderness and dark stormy skies and on the right side there is civilization and clear skies, however, the storm is receding as well as the wilderness. Thomas Cole made his concerns regarding the industrial expansion and the impact it had on the wilderness well known and I believe this image was a representation of that message.
The Course of an empire gives a good understanding of the views Thomas Cole has on the life cycle of a civilization and empire. Commissioned by Luman Reed in 1833 and finished in 1836 shortly after Reed’s passing. Cole had a famous motto he frequently used to describe this series “First freedom and then Glory – when that fails, Wealth, vice, corruption...”
The Course of an empire is a fascinating series of paintings, it serves as a warning to the young republic of Antebellum America to look out for an abundance of wealth, vice, and corruption. In terms of Cole’s course of an empire the American republic most closely fits somewhere between figure 3 The Arcadian or Pastoral State and figure 4 The Consummation of Empire. The direct subject matter of Coles work seems to reflect the roman empire, from the similarities in the architecture to the fact that Cole began this piece after his trip through Italy to learn artistic techniques. The parallels between the Roman empire and Antebellum America are what provide the historical commentary Cole displays. The first in the series The Savage State depicts a wild area, this painting seems to show us how before civilization all is untamed wilderness, void of the influence of man to calm it. The second image transitions into the early phases of pastoralism, the wilderness untamed still but beginning to be managed by civilization. Figure 5, the middle of the empire’s life cycle is where the American Republic is heading, though it is not there yet. Coles warning is to avoid what caused the empire of this series to fall, avoid greed and remember to value the wilderness. If the early republic ignores his warning it will meet a similar fate. “To complete the tremendous tragedy, nature appears on the scene, a terrific actor.” This quote by Coles biographer Louis Legrand Noble presents the course of an empire almost as an enormous historical play that ironically ends the same it started; consumed by the wilderness.
We will conclude our look at Thomas Cole’s works with by narrowing our focus from historical trends or early republics to look at the domestic individual and his 1847 painting The Home in the Woods.
This painting does not have a poetic historical appeal like Course of an Empire nor was it a personal project like the oxbow where Cole had creative liberty to make bold statements about the destruction on the wilderness. The Home in the Woods appeals to the individual American family through the ability to be self-sufficient and sufficient for the family. It appeals to his patron merchant Daniel Wadsworth through the portrayal of seemingly endless resources; its appeals artists and early transcendentalist as it demonstrated how the expansion of America into the wilderness was clearing and corrupting this pristine wilderness. The Home in the Woods acts as a piece of art that all audiences would appreciate, a way for Cole to make sure his message about the destruction of the wilderness was heard by all. Coles death in 1848 did not mark the end of artists focused on protecting the wilderness, the torch was simply passed to his best friend.
Asher B Durand began his artistic career as an engraver, apprenticing under New York Cities master engraver William Satchel Leney. Durand spent 13 years as an engraver in the city and gained artistic acclaim from his engraving of John Trumbell’ The declaration of Independence in 1824. As we addressed in the opening paragraphs through Trumbell is how Durand met his lifelong friend and artistic mentor Thomas Cole. Through Cole’s and Durand’s relationship and the passing of their common patron Luman Reed, Durand shifted focuses in his artwork from engraving and portraiture to landscape pieces. Shortly after the death of Cole Durand painted one of his most popular works Kindred Spirits in 1849l. Kindred Spirits depicts his close friends Thomas Cole and the poet William Cullen Bryant in the forests in the Catskill mountains. This painting is one of my favorites of Durand’s, however the visual aspect is not entirely why I adore it; to me this painting represents a legacy for Thomas Cole and his message. This painting is of the Kaaterskill Clove Gorge, in the Catskill Mountains Cole had grown popular depicting. By the time this painting was complete much of the Catskills had been developed or logged for timber, this image to me reads as a eulogy for his best friend as well as a eulogy for what Cole held most dear, the wilderness and how it could enrich the human experience. Durand idealizes the imagery while maintaining a naturalistic feel of the developed wilderness to represent his sorrow at the destruction of it, a reminder that the progress of a nation comes at a cost. To Durand this cost was the destruction of God’s creation as he addresses frequently in his letters on landscape painting.
The Letters on Landscape Painting were a monthly publication in the art journal The Crayon. Ferber refers to the letters on landscape paintings as “a manifesto of nineteenth-century American landscape practice” Asher Brown Durand was chosen to write articles by the founders (his son John and art critic William James Stillman) on the techniques of landscape painting as well as answer questions from the community. These articles primarily address techniques for art however these techniques are not strictly about form and tools. Durand addressed the importance of interacting with nature to understand artistic techniques as well as the influence of nature on the mind and heart. Durand stated that the “interaction with nature is only surpassed in its holiness by the light of revelation.” Durand spends much of the letters on landscape he penned discussing how landscape painting is an attempt to come closer to god by recreating his works, this philosophy is shared with Cole and Albert Bierstadt.
Albert Bierstadt’s influence on the American attitude towards westward expansion lies in providing the view of a nearly unaltered landscapes, seemingly perfect but, they didn’t exist. The landscape paintings Bierstadt often depicted were usually collages of many other scenery forms and not direct representations of landscapes Bierstadt’s saw on his expeditions west. These idealized images served a different purpose than Durand’s idealized landscapes as Bierstadt had a different audience to please. Bierstadt was not painting for wealthy poets and artists like Durand and Cole often were; Bierstadt was on westward expeditions funded by the federal government to pacify natives and observe the landscape. This piece of information is crucial to understanding why Bierstadt portrays the west in the way he did. Bierstadt in a sense served as advertising for westward expansion, depicting vast resource rich lands with nothing standing in the way to stop the American frontiersman and government from taking it for their own.
We will look at two very similar paintings that were completed shortly after the end of the civil war that demonstrate Bierstadt and the artistic movements shift in philosophy at the end of the Antebellum period. These paintings are Bierstadt’s Emigrants Crossing the Plains and The Oregon Trail. These images are nearly identical, some minor figure changes from the original to the more recent version. The primary difference between these two images however provides some insight into how Americans shaped and viewed the west. The Oregon Trail was painted in 1869 shortly after the completion of the transcontinental railroad and the change in lighting reflects this historic event for America. In both paintings Bierstadt paints the west as a light, this use of light leading the way to the west is undeniably like the John Gast painting American Progress. The religious motifs attached to the source of light only further assert Bierstadt’s intent to associate these paintings with the idea of manifest Destiny. The use of a brighter light source coming from the same destination in The Oregon Trail signifies that Bierstadt wanted his audience to understand that the completion of the railroad would only make the west a brighter future for many who chose to travel there, as well as offer a feeling that god approves of the work on the railroad.
