The Hudson River School: Landscape Paintings from the Albany Institute

The Albany Institute houses one of the largest collections of nineteenth-century American landscape paintings, works often associated with the term “Hudson River School.” In 2017, eighty-three Hudson River School paintings were installed in the Christine and George R. Hearst III Gallery on the museum’s third floor. These landscapes, painted by renowned artists like Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, Jasper Cropsey, Asher Durand, Sarah Cole, capture America’s scenic grandeur in all its magnificence from rugged coastal scenery to imposing mountains and rivers. Many paintings in the Institute’s collection depict the nation during decades of transformation from a country of small towns and farms to one of industrial works and sprawling urban centers. The nation was also in the midst of rapid westward expansion and political conflict that reshaped its social identity and cultural outlook. Developments in transportation allowed artists to travel more widely, frequently beyond the nation’s borders, to Europe and more distant corners of the globe, and return to their home country with sketchbooks full of inspiration and new ideas. The paintings on view reveal a visual history of the United States during the nineteenth century, including its aspirations and growing nostalgia for a simpler and more harmonious past.