Quaint on the Order of Wilderness

Written by staff writer

Monday, 05 March 2007

Moat Mountain from Jackson, NH As the frontier of New England beckoned in the early 1800s, artists joined eager tourists in exploring the pristine intervales, swift-flowing waters and craggy mountains of NH’s Mount Washington Valley.  Many of these artists were initiators of the first truly American school of art, the Hudson River School. Thomas Cole, Jasper Francis Cropsey, Samuel Colman and Albert Bierstadt sketched in the White Mountains in the summer, and then returned to their urban –and warmer–studios in the winter to complete their canvases.  Later and more stalwart artists, such as Benjamin Champney and Frank Shapleigh, settled in the area for long periods, painting not only the peace of summer but also the majesty and fury of winter in the Whites.  The landscapes created by the earlier painters bespoke their conviction that nature was the highest earthly evidence of divinity.  The paintings created by the later artists emphasized the beauty of nature and man’s place as an integral part of the landscape.     The popularity of the White Mountain School waned as Americans moved west to fresh wilderness in search of the nation’s Manifest Destiny.  By the mid-20th century, however, there was a resurgence of fascination with Hudson River and White Mountain art, and an increase in demand for these paintings.     A new exhibition of White Mountain art, “Consuming Views:  Art and Tourism in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, 1850-1900,” is on display at the Museum of New Hampshire History in Concord, NH, through May 7, 2007.  603.228.6688 www.nhhistory.org Frank Henry Shapleigh     Examples can also be viewed at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in Hanover and on John Henderson’s website devoted to White Mountain art at www.whitemountainart.com. Portrait of Frank Henry Shapleigh and “Moat Mountain from Jackson, NH” by Frank Henry Shapleigh (1842-1906) are reproduced courtesy of John J. and Joan R. Henderson. Articles by this Author: Learning About Weather Relaxing with Bowser Pets Do the Shopping Meeting Needs Through NEADS Inn Decadence View all articles by this author

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 March 2007 )

 

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