Thursday, April 9, 2015

Art of the American West. Thomas Hill. 1829-1908. A-Z Challenge

                    

                       View of Yosemite Valley, 1871

Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola,  New York

Thomas Hill was born in England on September 11, 1829.  At the age of 15 he emigrated to the United States with his family and settled in Taunton, Massachusetts.  In 1851 he married Charlotte Hawkes.  He worked as a carriage painter, furniture decorator and interior designer.


When he was 24, he attended evening classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. During his years as a student he traveled to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and sketched alongside members of the Hudson River School. Then in 1856, he and his family moved to San Francisco, California.  There he made his first trip to the Yosemite Valley in 1862 which made a huge impression.  He traveled back and forth from New Hampshire, especially the White Mountains, to California.


The Hudson River School celebrates an awe for nature and paint man on a very small scale compared with the vast landscape.  If you look carefully at the painting you can see tiny figures along the hill line, one on horseback.  Hill painted "en plein air," finishing the small paintings begun outdoors,  later indoors on large canvases. The Yosemite canvas was 30 by 48 inches.



Hill was acclaimed in his lifetime as an eminent artist with high praise for his work. An interesting fact was that this painting was chosen to be the backdrop of the head table at Barack Obama's inaugural luncheon to commemorate Lincoln's 1864 signing of the Yosemite Grant.  Lincoln signed this in the midst of the Civil War. The Yosemite Grant was the first land grant to protect wild lands for the enjoyment of the people. 

17 comments:

  1. Hudson River School art is definitely my fave. I saw a wonderful exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum about 12 years ago, and I saw some at the Portland (Maine) Art Museum in the 80s too. The paintings are gorgeous and HUGE.

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    1. Thanks, T.P.C. I have been to Yosemite several times and it does look like that.

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  3. I always wondered with those huge canvases whom were they painting for? Wealthy patrons? Museums? or just because they wanted to paint large?

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  5. Thomas Hill is new to me, as is the Hudson River School, so thanks for the introduction. It's a beautiful landscape, majestic and grand, and I love how Hill puts us pesky human beings in our rightful place--just one small part of the much bigger picture.

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    1. He does put us in our place. But the view is grand. Perhaps that is why it is good to visit those national parks to gain our perspective and see ourselves as we really are.

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  6. I live in California and have yet to go to Yosemite National Park. I've got to get out more.

    Stephen Tremp
    an A-Z Cohost
    @StephenTremp on Twitter

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    1. Perhaps you are not an "outdoors person" Stephen, but they have a wonderful hotel there and you can sit on the porch, have a glass of wine or? You don't have to hike or rough it. But it is worthwhile seeing Yosemite.

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  7. Hi Nat - I'd love to visit the Yosemite National Park ... and the Hudson River School sounds an amazing place ... one of the early schools of art for plein air .. similar to those in Newlyn and St Ives in Cornwall ..

    I love that painting .. fascinating .. cheers Hilary

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  8. Makes you feel small, doesn't it? But shows the vastness of the valley very well. And you feel small when you are there, but it is a beautiful place.

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  9. Majestic is the word which comes to mind. What a painting to attempt. Wonderful. I too would like to visit this part of the world, maybe more chance than Hilary, but not much chance nowadays I'm afraid. This was/is a great theme.

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  10. Thanks, Jo. The traveling gets harder later. I know so well now. That's why I encourage everyone to travel as much as you can (if that is what you like), because you never know when health issues make it more difficult.

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  11. I like this painting. You get an impression of so much space and distance.

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    1. Wish I had the talent to paint like this and to inspire generations like Thomas Hill did. Writing does the same thing, but with visuals, like painting, the impression is immediate.

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  12. Hi.
    I've looked through all your a-z challenge posts so far and there are a few observations I've made that may interest you.
    Firstly I think you've chosen a very fascinating theme for your challenge. We are going through tough times here in South Africa at the moment with white people being targeted for the past. I hope you don't have the same thing happen in the states.
    Now on to my observations. If you look at these amazing pictures you will notice that everything is in focus. In photography that means that you would have to use a very small aperture to capture it and a very wide lens, lovely.
    I also came to the realization that these artists must have worked very quickly, no photographs to refer back to, only sketches. I draw and, to tell the truth, it takes quite some time to get everything right. Adding color would definitely add days to these painting projects.
    Also in each of these paintings the artist has created a sense of nostalgia, the poses and backgrounds tempt the viewer into circumspection and deeper observation.
    They are images of your history that should be preserved for future generations that will never have the opportunity to take part in these momentous times.
    Well done for a really good theme and interesting posts, Geoff.

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  13. Geoff, I am so appreciative of the time you took to write these comments. It's as if we were having a cup of tea or coffee together and discussing the paintings and history. Thank you!

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