Visual art

Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement created by a group of landscape painters who were enlightened by Romanticism. At the beginning of the movement, these painters focus merely on depicting and representing the view and shots around the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, including the Catskill, Adirondack, and White Mountains. Later one, as these paintings became more influential, the second generation of this school gradually expand their landscape settings to New England, the Maritimes, the American West, and South America.
== Hudson River School ==
==== Founding ====
Thomas Cole is the generally acknowledged founder of the Hudson River School. He took a steamship to the Hudson in the autumn of 1825 and composed several paintings there. On November 22, 1825, Cols's art pieces were appreciated by public on New York Times openly---his expression of the brilliant autumn appealed plenty of artists to imitate and follow after. Afterwards, one of his close friends Asher Brown Durand, also became one of the most significant representative artist among the Hudson River School.
=== Second Generation of the Hudson River School ===
There is no specific time for the emergement of the second generation. Contextually, its roughly after the prematured death of Thomas Cole in 1848. For the second generation, it's primary members included Frederic Edwin Church, John Frederick Kensett, Sanford Robinson Gifford, etc.
Between 1855 to 1875, some Hudson River School artworks---which were considered the best and most influencial pieces in today's perspective were composed. Most of artists within the second generation of the Hudson River School were also greatly impacted by the Düsseldorf school of painting. Albert Bierstadt, a famous German-American painter of the Hudson River School, even studied in that city for several years. Artworks painted by the second generation showed audiances a vast, untamed, but magnificent wilderness landscapes, such works not only brought the surprise visually, also lead people feel the other perspctive of beauty in America.