ART REVIEW | WESTCHESTER

19th-Century Visions of New York’s Splendor

New-York Historical Society

PEAKS AND VALLEYS Asher B. Durand’s “Adirondack Mountains, N.Y.” is a highlight of the New-York Historical Society’s show in New Paltz.

By BENJAMIN GENOCCHIO

Published: September 11, 2009

Every now and then, an exhibition comes along that is so perfectly lovely that you want to shout its merits from the closest rooftop, or in this case mountain. Peaks and valleys are among the predominant subjects of the 45 paintings exhibited in“The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th Century American Landscape Paintings from the New-York Historical Society” at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art in New Paltz.

The exhibition is part of this year’s protracted quadricentennial celebration of the voyages of Henry Hudson, Robert Fulton and Samuel Champlain. How it relates to this theme I am not entirely sure, for all the paintings in the show were made between 1818 and 1892. But I am not complaining, for apart from the skillfulness and dreaminess of so many of the pictures, the fact that several of them have not been on public display in half a century makes the exhibition even more remarkable. This is New York as you have never seen it before.

The mission of the early American landscape painters, as they saw it, was to capture the sublime in nature. Snowy peaks, sunsets, rainbows and waterfalls were especially popular subjects, as evidenced here by Thomas Cole’s “Sunset, View on the Catskill” (1833) or Christopher Pearse Cranch’s “View on the Catskill River” (1846), in which the setting sun casts a deep orange glow over an autumnal landscape. You could enjoy this for hours.

A tendency when viewing this exhibition is to gravitate toward the important works by recognizable artists. That is perfectly understandable, especially given that the checklist includes wonderful pieces not only by Cole and Cranch but also by Asher B. Durand, Albert Bierstadt, Jasper Cropsey, John W. Casilear and George Inness. Cropsey’s “Greenwood Lake, New Jersey” (1871), a spectacular, atmospheric landscape (part of the lake is in New York), is among the highlights of the exhibition.

Then there is Durand’s “Adirondack Mountains, N.Y.” (circa 1870), probably the single most important work in the show. It is a masterpiece of landscape painting, presenting a panoramic view across a low-lying valley, the mountains rising to the clouds in the distance. It is possible that other visitors to this show, like me, have spent more time looking at Hudson River-area paintings — alone, in galleries, and with keen attention — than we have outdoors surveying the real thing, but my guess is that the artist nailed the view. It is a marvelously realistic and evocative depiction.

Many works by lesser-known artists will also reward prolonged looks, including Robert Havell’s “View of Hudson River from Tarrytown Heights” (circa 1842), a sweeping landscape vista dotted with houses and farms. It is a celebration of the then-emerging riverside suburbs of Westchester, which were served by steamboats, visible on the river at the bottom left of the picture.

By the 1850s, railroads offered easier access to Westchester, and suburban development greatly increased. Several of the paintings show early commercial and industrial ventures along the Hudson. Andrew Bunner’s winter view of Rockland Lake depicts the 19th-century industry of cutting and storing ice for shipment to New York, while Joseph Vollmering’s lovely, expansive view of the Hudson at Ossining includes a view of Sing Sing prison. According to the exhibition catalog, the prison was built on the river to provide nearby marble quarries with a ready-made labor force; back then the town was known as Sing Sing, hence the name.

John Cornell’s “View of the Hudson Highlands from Ruggles House, Newburgh, N.Y.” (1838) and Thomas Chambers’s “Lake George and the Village of Caldwell” (circa 1850) document the establishment of another important industry in the Hudson region — tourism. Caldwell was a tourist town at the south end of Lake George, while the Ruggles House was a popular resort hotel in Newburgh where wealthy New Yorkers would come, stay and explore the area’s charming river towns, mountain trails and serene waterways.

Many touring exhibitions of Hudson River paintings in previous years have left us no wiser — in large part because curators played it safe with their selections.

Not so with this exhibition, which is stocked with pictures of such variety and interest that you can’t help but be enthralled. Nor can you help wondering whether or not there is another state in this country that possesses a greater variety of admirable scenery than New York. It’s time we all got out there to take a better look.

“The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th Century American Landscape Paintings from the New-York Historical Society,” Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, 75 South Manheim Boulevard, State University of New York at New Paltz. Through Dec. 13. Information: (845) 257-3844 or newpaltz.edu/museum.