During the 19th century, American artists were inspired by the British Romanticism movement. They were also influenced by the German Romanticism movement, as well as the French Romanticism movement. Artists sought to create a uniquely American form of Romanticism that was influenced by the American Revolution and Civil War. They were inspired by the American landscape and folklore, and they believed that art should be accessible to everyone.
In 1821, Thomas Cole began painting landscapes in a style inspired by William Wordsworth’s poetry. He was soon joined in this endeavor by other artists such as Asher B. Durand and Frederic Church. The movement became known as Hudson River School because it focused on depicting scenes along rivers in upstate New York and New England such as those surrounding Lake George or Mount Washington in New Hampshire. This group of American landscape painters was one of the first to reject European artistic traditions and create an entirely new style of painting based on their own experiences with nature rather than relying on classical models or direct observation from nature itself (as did most European artists at the time).
