Picturing the Americas
November 27, 2016 11:36 PM Subscribe
During the early years of the nineteenth century, as nations in the Americas gained and asserted their independence, pictorial representations of the landscape forged visions of the whole hemisphere. Landscape imagery of the period shows how we are connected by a shared pan-American history, but also underscores the differences between our respective national identities based on our relationships to the land.Picturing the Americas features over 100 landscape paintings from Tierra del Fuego to the High Arctic. You can explore the site by theme, by timeline, by artist, and by map.
Oh!
I have a soft spot for part of this - specifically the Hudson River School movement. It comes from that time when the United States was in its "newly-independent teenager trying to establish its identity" phase, and the arts in particular were in a push to Establish How We Americans Do Things. In the case of painting, How We Do Things became "sweeping landscapes."
Even better, if you live near New York State, there's a guide that maps out a bunch of the views depicted in various works, and in many cases even pinpoints "here's where the artist was STANDING when he did this." There's also a couple of sites in New Hampsire and one in Connecticut, and they're working on expanding to some views in Yellowstone. I actually wrote about the trail for Atlas Obscura, with a photographer friend along to take a modern-day picture of the existing view so you can compare.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:35 AM on November 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
I have a soft spot for part of this - specifically the Hudson River School movement. It comes from that time when the United States was in its "newly-independent teenager trying to establish its identity" phase, and the arts in particular were in a push to Establish How We Americans Do Things. In the case of painting, How We Do Things became "sweeping landscapes."
Even better, if you live near New York State, there's a guide that maps out a bunch of the views depicted in various works, and in many cases even pinpoints "here's where the artist was STANDING when he did this." There's also a couple of sites in New Hampsire and one in Connecticut, and they're working on expanding to some views in Yellowstone. I actually wrote about the trail for Atlas Obscura, with a photographer friend along to take a modern-day picture of the existing view so you can compare.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:35 AM on November 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
Hah, I got to courier a painting from our museum to Toronto for this show. It was a great looking exhibition.
posted by PussKillian at 6:52 AM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by PussKillian at 6:52 AM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
« Older "I have always been partial to pee." | 2016, the year that keeps taking: Doug Edwards... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Some of these awaken a real wanderlust. Sadly, it's as the meme goes - born too late to explore the earth, born too early to explore the galaxy, born just in time to have a reality TV star as US president.
posted by Rei Toei at 2:22 AM on November 28, 2016 [2 favorites]