[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 177 (Friday, November 18, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2097-E2098]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL OF PAINTING

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER P. GIBSON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 18, 2011

  Mr. GIBSON. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to represent a district 
along the Hudson River that is steeped in history and produced the 
first American school of painting in the mid-nineteenth century, called 
the Hudson River School of Painting. Its founder and spiritual leader 
was Thomas Cole, who, in 1825, sailed up the Hudson River to the 
Catskill Mountains and painted inspiring pictures of New York State 
sites that attracted instant acclaim. Thomas Cole was born in Bolton, 
Lancashire in northwest England in 1801. He emigrated to the United 
States in 1818, and around 1832, rented a small studio in my district 
called Cedar Grove. This is now known today as the Thomas Cole National 
Historic Site. Complementing Cedar Grove, and also located in my 
district, is the home and studio of Frederic Edwin Church, who was a 
student of Thomas Cole. During the last 40 years of Church's life, he 
created a 250 acre estate called Olana. Olana is a National Historic 
Landmark located in Hudson, NY, and I proud to represent this fine 
marker of our history, which is home to the Hudson River School of 
Painting. The painters that gathered here, among them Asher B. Durand, 
Jasper F. Cropsey, John F. Kensett, Sanford R. Gifford, formed the 
first coherent society of artists in America, and led the fine arts 
until the end of the Civil War. Today, their major paintings are seen 
in museums throughout the United States, including major federal 
buildings in Washington, D.C., such as the White House, State 
Department, and National Gallery of Art. They depict the landscape of 
America, and some have said these were the first environmental 
conservationists, who glorified our land and its contours in the mid-
nineteenth century.
  I would like to take this opportunity to commend the effort to place 
creative bronze ``Arches'' historic markers along the Hudson River, 
marking where these artists painted. My colleague, Rep. Eliot Engel, 
recently unveiled a Hudson River School of Painting historic marker at 
Hastings on Hudson, and others will be placed at Hook Mountain, on the 
Hudson River near Nyack, with a beautiful view of the Tappen Zee Bride 
and Haverstraw Bay, as well as at Newburgh, New York. Greg Wyatt, 
Director of the Academy of Art at the

[[Page E2098]]

Newington-Cropsey Foundation, has created these historic markers, and I 
encourage those that visit our region to view them, as well as the 
striking landscape and sweeping natural beauty of our Hudson River.
  Mr. Speaker, it has been said that the Hudson River School of 
Painting led not only to the establishment of the Metropolitan Museum 
of Art in New York City, but also to the creation of the National Parks 
Systems begun under the late President Theodore Roosevelt. I salute the 
Hudson River School painters, who celebrated the ideals of American 
democracy, individuality, and illustrated themes such as nature, 
education, family, and chivalry. I urge my colleagues to take the time 
to review the influences of this American art movement and to have all 
Americans understand its impact on our culture. There are two paintings 
by Albert Bierstadt, a prominent member of the Hudson River School of 
Painting, that were recently placed on public view in the Capitol 
Visitors Center of the U.S. Congress. These works, ``Discovery of the 
Hudson River'' and ``Entrance into Monterey,'' were purchased by 
Congress after the Civil War and are beautiful examples of this 
movement.

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