My computer does not work well enough for me to post anything other than a picture and a few words. It has been “repaired,” but I believe I will have to replace it.
So I am sending a picture and my kindest regards. ♥
Kindred Spirits by Asher Brown Durand, 1848 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Blue Point, Long Island by Alfred Thompson Bricher
The Hudson River School
The United States has produced great artists. Members the Hudson River School enjoyed landscape painting as did, for instance, members of the Barbizon School in France.
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century school. Therefore, Bricher was a late member. As Modern Art gained prominence, he was nearly forgotten, but he later regained notoriety as a marine painter. In the 1890s he purchased a house near the sea in the New Dorp section of Staten Island. He could view the Atlantic Ocean and Raritan Bay. He remained active until his death, in New Dorp in 1908.
The Hudson River school: the United States’ first art School
Sanford Robinson Gifford (10 July 1823 – 29 August 1880) was a member of the 19th-century American Hudson River School and, as did members of this school, he painted landscapes and seascapes. Gifford first studied art under the direction of John R. Smith, a water-colorist and drawing-master. He painted the scenery that surrounded him: the North-East coast of the United States, but he also travelled and studied abroad, as did many Hudson River school artists. They were in search of scenery. Gifford first travelled to Europe in 1855 and met Albert Bierstadt and Worthington Whittredged. Gifford was in fact close to several members of the Hudson River school, the United States’ first art school.[i]
Most members of the Hudson River school travelled not only to Europe but also to various parts of the United States. Gifford travelled to Vermont in 1858 and spent the summer of 1867 on the New Jersey coast, at Sandy Hooke and Long Branch and, in 1870, he went to the Rocky Mountains accompanied by Worthington Whittredged and John Frederick Kensett, the most prominent member of the Hudson River school.
Meanwhile, however, in 1668, Gifford had returned to Europe and travelled to the Middle East and to Egypt.
Technique
When he travelled, Gifford made sketches and, on his return to his studio, in New York, he would enlarge his sketches into small oil paintings and then enlarge his small oil paintings into large paintings, the definitive work. Therefore, the date given a painting does not necessarily correspond to the date the sketch was made.
During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Gifford joined the Union Army and subsequently returned to his studio in New York.
He died of malaria, in New York, at the age of 57.
Luminism
The paintings of members of the Hudson River school are associated with luminism. Luminism resembles Impressionism in that artists attempt to capture the effect of light on landscapes and seascapes. Light molds an object. However, American luminism is much less suggestive than French Impressionism. The artworks of French Impressionists are at times blurred to the point of abstraction.
According to Wikipedia,
luminism is characterized by attention to detail and the hiding of brushstrokes, while impressionism is characterized by lack of detail and an emphasis on brushstrokes. Luminism preceded impressionism, and the artists who painted in a luminist style were in no way influenced by impressionism.
As for the Encyclopædia Britannica, it describes luminism as a “late 19th-century painting style emphasizing a unique clarity of light. It was characteristic of the works of a group of independent American painters who were directly influenced by the Hudson River school of painting. The term, however, was not coined until 1954 by John Baur, director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.”[ii]
In Britannica‘s definition, the operative words are “a unique clarity of light.” However, members of the Hudson River were never a movement and, if they were “luminists,” it was sans le savoir, unawares. The term did not exist in the 19th century.[iii]
This week, we remember the attacks of 9/11: the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and flight 93.
I was in my office. A colleague came rushing in and pulled me to a television set. The second tower was about to crumble and, to everyone’s horror and disbelief, it did crumble. The person who had filmed the catastrophe had started filming before the attacks. Therefore, when the video was replayed, we saw the first plane hit one of the towers and then people jumping out the windows. Another plane hit the second tower. Firefighters were now on the scene and many died when the second tower crumbled.
What does one do when one loses the one person who makes a difference in one’s life?
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Ironically, this year, the United States is facing another attack. It did not take place on American soil but it is a serious violation of international law.
One cannot use chemical weapons and citizens of a nation do not attempt to exterminate fellow citizens. What is happening in Syria is genocide. Those are crimes against humanity and such a matter requires the attention and intervention of a united world.
This is what I am now seeing.
The citizens of the US oppose another war in the Near East, now called the Middle East.
President Obama is demonstrating “ambivalence,” with respect to a strike. I am quoting CNN’s Gloria Borger.
There is little the United Nations can do because of the presence in its midst of powerful nations that can veto decisions that could help the Syrians. In other words, paradoxically, the UN may serve rather than hinder Assad’s regime.
Despite its debt, the US remains a superpower and possesses a formidable arsenal.
I suspect that the wars waged during a previous administration may have been interpreted as provocation or “meddling” on the part of the Middle East.
Given that Russia supports Assad’s regime, I am tempted to say that old habits die hard, but I could be wrong.
I will therefore conclude by stating that, in my opinion, the current situation is a dead end. I cannot see just how a military engagement on the part of the US can be narrow, limited and targeted. There has to be another resolution.
However, what do I know? There is information a government cannot disclose without jeopardizing a “narrow” but possibly successful intervention in Syria.
May this be the moment when superpowers close shop? What precisely did the historical Jesus of Nazareth mean when he said “turn the other cheek,” and what is the meaning of Leo Tolstoy‘s The Kingdom of God Is Within You (first published in Germany in 1894)?
Blue Point, Long Island, by Alfred Thompson Richer
I have been asked to compile all my articles on the United States. Some had been compiled. So here is half of my complete list. Mutiny in Congress: Ship them to Guantanamo was a favorite. For added pleasure, I thought you might enjoy a video featuring Alfred Thompson Bricher’s art. The United States has produced great artists. Members the Hudson River school enjoyed landscape painting as did, for instance, members of the Barbizon School in France.
I hope to feature more paintings by the artists associated with the Hudson River school.
Alfred Thompson Bricher (April 10, 1837- September 30, 1908) was an American painter associated with White Mountain art and the Hudson River School. He studied at the Lowell Institute and with Albert Bierstadt, William Morris Hunt, and others. By 1858, he made art his profession. He opened a studio in Boston, but in 1868 he moved to New York City and showed “Mill-Stream at Newburyport” at the National Academy of Design. He had first worked with oils, but ended up switching to watercolors. In 1873, he became a member of the American Watercolor Society. As did other members of the Hudson River School, Bricher painted landscapes mainly, but in the 1870s, he started to paint seascapes and these are the paintings that earned him renown.
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century school. Therefore, Bricher was a late member. As Modern Art gained prominence, he was nearly forgotten, but he later regained notoriety as a marine painter. In the 1890s he purchased a house near the sea in the New Dorp section of Staten Island. He could view the Atlantic Ocean and Raritan Bay. He remained active until his death, in New Dorp in 1908.