The Hudson River School

The Hudson River School was not really a school - it was a group of artists centered in New York from the 1820s to the 1880s. The group was the first major American art movement, and focused primarily on landscape paintings inspired by the Catskill mountains. The artists lived mostly in New York city, in a neighborhood that would later become known as Greenwich Village. Click here to learn more about the movement, and see some of the most famous Hudson River School paintings.

The paintings you see in the video below are representative of the dominant artistic pieces during the time that James Fennimore Cooper was writing.



For Extra Credit: now that you've read about and viewed the works of some great Hudson River School painters, look through magazines in your house and find a photo that resembles the work of a Hudson River School artist. Cut it out, attach a note card explaining how the photo is like the typical work of a Hudson River School artist, and turn it in for 5 points EC.