Sandra Hildreth
1997 Summer Fellowship for Independent Study in the Humanities
"A Personal Exploration of 19th C. & Contemporary
Landscape Painting
of the Adirondacks and St. Lawrence Valley Region"
Awarded by the Council for Basic Education, National Endowment for
the
Humanities
Summary Report: "Background Painting"
As a high school Art
and Humanities teacher, one of my favorite
time periods of American history was the mid-nineteenth century when
the
Hudson River School of Painting was at its peak. Thomas Cole had
sparked
the whole movement with his first paintings of Katerskill Falls and
other
Catskill wilderness scenes in 1825. Prior to that time, only one of
every
ten paintings was a landscape, but by the 1850’s, nine of every ten
were
paintings of wild American places. While doing research for teaching
about
the time period, I’d discovered that early artists basically ignored
the
landscape, unless they were merely recording a family homestead, a
military
encampment or battle, or the growth of some community. I became curious
about why there was this sudden surge of interest in views of unspoiled
nature at the very time when the whole country had embarked on
fulfilling
the charge of Manifest Destiny. Settlers were cutting down trees,
damming
rivers, clearing fields and building roads. The Erie Canal had just
opened
and railroads were pushing farther and farther into the remote areas of
the continent. I wondered if the artists were anticipating the
destruction
of the country's natural resources, or was it just a Romantic fad?
These
were more of the questions I had hoped to find answers for as I pursued
my Independent Study topic. I also wanted to explore my own love for
the
landscape and what it was that always attracted me to it. While the
Independent
Study was not required to relate to school curriculum or instruction, I
hoped it would help me find ways to inspire my own students to see the
beauty of the land we lived in, the very region that was the focus of
the
Hudson River School painters.
The climb to the solitude
of the summit of Black Bear Mountain
was just one of ten peaks I hiked during the summer of 1997. I
initially
wanted to try to visit some of the actual places the 19th century
artists
had 
painted,
but found it more inspiring to explore the less traveled Adirondack
areas
that were closer to where I lived. I canoed parts of the Grasse and St.
Regis Rivers, several Adirondack lakes and ponds, and camped for a
weekend
near Paul Smiths. I shot over a dozen rolls of film, took my
watercolors
on most of my hikes and completed several paintings from mountain
summits
or the shorelines of placid lakes, and read extensively in a number of
historical and contemporary books. I visited the Adirondack Museum in
Blue
Mountain Lake, where an exhibit called “Those Glorious Mountains”, was
most inspiring. At the Frederick Remington Museum of Art in Ogdensburg,
New York, I was able to view a whole gallery of paintings the artist
had
done while at his summer camp on an island in the St. Lawrence River.
While
attending an educational conference in Utica, I took the time to visit
the Munson Williams Proctor Institute to see their collection of
American
art and to make use of their reference library. I also visited the
Albany
Institute of History and Art and saw their collection of work and
artifacts
related to the Adirondack and Catskill regions. It was a most enjoyable
and creative summer, having the opportunity to totally become immersed
in the investigation of my chosen topic. What follows are the
observations
and insights gained from my experiences. The intent is not to produce a
thoroughly accurate, scholarly thesis on the topic, but to come to some
informative generalizations that will both help my understanding of the
subject and my ability to share that understanding with my students and
others.