ART TALK: Hudson River School / Romantic Landscapes in America

For decades Dr. Dennis Raverty has delighted audiences with lively presentations at libraries, churches, synagogues, hostels and business lunches on a variety of topics in the history of art, from the Italian Renaissance to the Harlem Renaissance. His articles and criticism has appeared in Art Journal, Art in America, The International Review of African American Art, Art Criticism, The New Art Examiner, Prospects: An Annual of American Studies, Source: Notes in the History of Art. and Art Papers, where he was a contributing editor. 

This lecture will explore the relationship between humankind and nature. It will be shown that the American wilderness these artists painted was viewed by them romantically as a new Garden of Eden. Join Raverty as he explores these ideas in context of the Hudson River School of art.

A reminder that you can see many Hudson River School paintings locally at Olana State Historic Site, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and Albany Institute of History & Art—just grab a Museum Pass at the library first!

Image: Asher Durand, Kindred Spirits, 1849, oil on canvas.