Blog

The introduction to this series, about the Wadsworth family and the Wadsworth Atheneum, is here. For all posts in the series, click here. This week’s post continues the galleries devoted to Hudson River School and related paintings.

The Hetch-Hetchy Valley: Bierstadt, 1874-1880

Another breathtaking view of the West by Bierstadt, who specialized in them: see this post, and this one, and this one. The Hetch-Hetchy Valley (whose name means “edible grasses,” “magpie,” or possibly “valley of two trees”) was famous in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for its beauty and its mosquitoes. Bierstadt did not paint photographically accurate reproductions, so chances are you never could have seen this view. You certainly can’t now, because in 1923, the Hetch-Hetchy Valley was submerged in a reservoir that provides water for San Francisco.

Cavalry Trooper on Horseback, 1890

Frederic Remington (1861-1909) was born in upstate New York. His ancestors fought in the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Civil War; his cousin founded the Remington Arms Company. An only child who who loved to hunt, swim, ride, and go camping, he began drawing while young and studied to be a journalist and illustrator. In 1880 he took the first of many trips to the West. Unlike later illustrators, he saw the West while it was still Wild, and portrayed it vividly. Here he shows a member of the U.S. Cavalry, a military force in the West that protected settlers from Indian attacks. For more on Remington’s short but vivid life, see Wikipedia.

Time Is Money: Danton, 1894

The alarm clock and the stack of money seem balanced on the arm of a scale. This is a trompe l’oeil work, painted with meticulous care to “fool the eye” into thinking you’re seeing actual objects rather than oil on canvas. The Wadsworth’s label notes that the phrase “time is money” was coined by Benjamin Franklin for Poor Richard’s Almanac (published 1730s-1740s), but gained special popularity after the Civil War, when rebuilding the country demanded efficiency in the workplace.

Aside from painting landscapes and trompe l’oeil, Ferdinand Danton, Jr. (1877-1939) also made a practice of copying works by early American artists such as Gilbert Stuart. He was eventually jailed for forgery.

The Bronco Buster, 1895

Remington is among the few artists who could sculpt as well as paint. Here he portrays another lone hero. The work was innovative because it shows the horse rearing on its hind legs and shows the cowboy’s fierce tension as he hangs on.

A View in Cuernavaca, Mexico: Church, ca. 1898-1900

Church (1826-1900) became the most famous of the Hudson River School painters after Thomas Cole died in 1848, and by the 1860s was America’s most famous painter. (See here, here, here, and here.) When he was in his forties, Church began to suffer from degenerative rheumatoid arthritis in his hands. In an attempt to get relief, he spent winters not in Olana, his home on the Hudson River, but in the warmth of Mexico. There he painted picturesque ruins such as this one. By this time, arthritis had crippled him so that he could no longer paint the spectacular huge canvases for which he was famous. A View in Cuernavaca is on a much smaller scale (25 x 31 inches).

When Church died in 1900, his work was considered old-fashioned: Impressionism and a host of other “isms” had caught the public fancy.

Wadsworth posts on American art

When I visited the Wadsworth, visitors were sent through the galleries in reverse chronological order due to social distancing. If you’d rather read the posts in order (seventeenth through twentieth centuries), the sequence would be as follows. Part 1 is the introduction to the series.

• part 12: 16th to early 19th centuries, including Copley, Trumbull, and Earl
• part 2: late 18th c., including Copley and Earl

• part 3: early and mid-19th c., early Hudson River School, including Cole and Church
• part 11: mid-19th c., including the Colt legacy and the Charter Oak
• part 4: mid-19th c., including Church and Bierstadt
• part 6: late 19th c. painting and sculpture, including Church, Remington, and Bierstadt
• part 5: late 19th c. painting, including Church and Heade
• part 9: late 19th and early 20th c. painting and sculpture
• part 10: late 19th and early 20th c. sculpture, including MacMonnies and Frishmuth
• part 8: early and mid-20th c. painting and sculpture, including Andrew Wyeth
• Part 7: survey of images of Niagara Falls, from the 17th to 21st centuries, including Trumbull, Cole, Bierstadt, and Church.

More

• In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon print and Kindle formats.
• Want wonderful art delivered weekly to your inbox? Check out my free Sunday Recommendations list and rewards for recurring support: details here.