This volume marks the culmination of a project that began in spring 2oo5 with the opening installation of Nature and the American Vision: The Hudson River School at the New-York Historical Society. The exhibition was guest-curated by Dr.Linda S. Ferber, and it marked a turning point for the Society's museum collection, which had not in recent history been shown to the public in such spectacular fashion--intellectually or visually. The exhibition also marked a turning point for the Society's administration, as Dr. Ferber shortly thereafter moved from the Brooklyn Museum, where she had a long and important career, to take on the role of museum director and executive vice president at the Society. To the great fortune of our many visitors--and to my personal pleasure as a colleague--the very high standard set by Dr. Ferber in Nature and the American Vision has now become customary for the Society's exhibition program.

In the first half of the nineteenth century, a group of painters working in New York City, together with like-minded poets and writers, developed a distinctly American vision of the landscape. Theirpowerful interpretations of American scenery,which came to be known as the Hudson River School, tell the story of how landscape imagery can shape both national and cultural identity.These works also demonstrated an early awareness of the importance of preserving natural sites for future generations--from the Hudson River to the Yosemite Valley, from the Arctic to South America.

This volume showcases more than one hundred of these images--many in full-page reproductions that convey the original paintings' monumental scale--as well as two special foldout sections.This marks the first presentation in book form of the outstanding Hudson River School collection at the New-York Historical Society and features work by all the greatest artists of the group including Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Church, Thomas Cole,Jasper Cropsey, Asher B. Durand, and John F.Kensett. Accompanying a long-term installation,this publication celebrates the four-hundredth anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage up the Hudson River.

PRESIDENT'S FOREWORD

DIRECTOR'S PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1  RIVER VIEWS AND RURAL RETREATS

    NEW YORK. CITY ON A RIVER

    UP THE RIVER. NEW YORK HARBOR TO THE ERIE CANAL

    THE HUDSON ON PAPER

CHAPTER 2  AMERICA'S FAVORITE RIVER, ON CANVAS

CHAPTER 3  THE AMERICAN GRAND TOUR

    THE CATSKILLS

    LAKE GEORGE AND THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS

    THE WHITE MOUNTAINS AND NEW ENGLAND

    NIAGARA FALLS

CHAPTER 4  AMERICAN ARTISTS AFIELD

    ARTIST EXPLORERS OF THE WEST

    THE ARCTIC

    SOUTH AMERICA

CHAPTER 5  THE OLD WORLD, EUROPE AND THE COURSE OF EMPIRE

    DREAM OF ARCADIA, AMERICANS IN ITALY

    THOMAS COLE'S The Course of Empire

    EPILOGUE" A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM COLLECTION

    ENDNOTES

    SELECTED READING LIST

    INDEX