A Favorite Painting, 37

Thomas Cole, View on the Catskill-- Early Autumn 1837

Next week I'll be driving across New York state to Cooperstown and points east, having recently won a couple of tickets to the Baseball Hall of fame in a raffle. I know that for many outside the state, New York is defined by its urban landscapes, most prominently of course, the Big Apple itself. It's easy to forget just how rustic much of this region was and remains even today once you get out of New York City, or wander even just a little north or south of the I-90 corridor between Buffalo and Albany. It's no coincidence that the first major school of American painters in the early nineteenth century took their name and much of their subject from the Empire State-- namely the Hudson River School, of which Thomas Cole was perhaps the leading figure. Much of what Cole and his cohort tried to convey and celebrate was the majesty of this country's natural setting, especially in the mostly still undeveloped areas away from the eastern seaboard. Scenes like those depicted above made a place for a human presence (look closely in the lower left), but acknowledged that people were dwarfed by their environment in ways that were concurrently primal, sustaining, uplifting, and intimidating. Part of their message was that as Americans we had by the 1820s figured out how to fit into such an imposing landscape without undermining its beauty or bounty, and also without entirely taming its more frightening aspects. Eventually we would mostly stop being so in awe of our surroundings, and that wasn't necessarily a good thing. I'm looking forward on my drive to seeing some places that resemble the lovely setting of Cole's painting (Cooperstown itself sits in a particularly bucolic spot as I recall), and I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed.