[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 122 (Tuesday, August 9, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1514]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL OF PAINTERS

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                        HON. MAURICE D. HINCHEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 9, 2011

  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, in 1996, President Clinton signed into law 
a bill that I authored establishing the Hudson River Valley National 
Heritage Area. One of the key priorities of the National Heritage Area 
is to preserve and appreciate the rich heritage and scenic beauty of 
the Hudson Valley and to highlight its contribution to both New York 
and the nation through the contributions of the Hudson River School of 
Painters, America's first school of art.
  Now, thanks to the Architect of the Capitol, anyone who visits the 
U.S. Capitol and Capitol Visitor Center can enjoy two famous paintings 
by Albert Bierstadt, one of the major 19th century Hudson River School 
painters, entitled ``Discovery of the Hudson'' and ``Entrance into 
Monterey.'' These large paintings were originally purchased by the U.S. 
Congress after the Civil War and were displayed prominently in the 
Capitol until recently taken down to facilitate renovations. The re-
hanging of these paintings is a major event for a rebirth in the study 
and appreciation of the Hudson River School of Painters. I encourage 
all members in the House and Senate to view these magnificent American 
landscapes and recommend to their visiting constituents that they do 
the same.
  The Hudson River School of Painters captured the beauty and clarity 
of American landscapes, and not only painted throughout the Hudson 
Valley and in my state of New York, but created idyllic scenes never 
before viewed. The school's roots are based in the works of Thomas Cole 
and his contemporaries Asher Durand and Frederic Edwin Church, as well 
as Jasper F. Cropsey, who became world-renowned for his depiction or 
American splendor in his painting ``Autumn on the Hudson'' (1860), and 
for his visit with Queen Victoria on one of his many trips to Europe. 
George Inness, who was born in my district, documented the expansion of 
the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad and Albert Bierstadt was 
celebrated for his portrayal of many Western mountain ranges, so much 
so that Mt. Bierstadt in Colorado was named in his honor. Thomas 
Moran's famous works were used to support the creation of Yellowstone 
National Park, and these paintings helped inspire the eventual creation 
of the National Park Service. Many of the painters in the Hudson River 
School, including Church, Bierstadt, John Kensett, and Sanford Gifford 
served in advisory roles in the founding of the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art in New York in 1870.
  Mr. Speaker, it is also with great pleasure that I join with my 
colleague from New York, Representative Eliot Engel, in supporting the 
placement of a series of historic bronze markers along the Hudson River 
honoring the sites at which the Hudson River School of Painters created 
their works of art. These bronze sculptural markers were created by 
Greg Wyatt, Director, Academy of Art, Newington-Cropsey Foundation, and 
will be placed at Hastings-on-Hudson, Hook Mountain State Park, and in 
my district in the City of Newburgh. The bronze text of each marker 
reads: ``This monument is dedicated to the memory of the Hudson River 
School, a fraternity of landscape painters who worked in New York City 
in the 1800s and celebrated American as well as foreign scenery in 
their works. Among these painters of the Hudson River School were 
Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Frederic E. Church, John F. Kensett, 
Sanford R. Gifford, and Jasper F. Cropsey.'' Today, their major works 
are seen in museums great and small, where they glorify the nation's 
original resource and its enduring responsibility: the land.
  Mr. Speaker, there will be a series of speeches and statements by my 
colleagues highlighting the contributions of each of the Hudson River 
School of Painters and the impact they had on their districts, and to 
America. The beauty of these paintings depicted a growing interest in 
American landscape and an effort to conserve and protect what I 
consider the first environmental movement in America in the 19th 
century. Please join with me in recognizing and appreciating the Hudson 
River School of Painters.

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