HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL The first coherent school of American art, the Hudson River painters, helped to shape the mythos of the American landscape. Beginning with the works of Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and Asher B. Durand (1796-1886) and evolving into the Luminist and late Romantic schools, landscape painting was the prevalent genre of 19th century American art. THE OXBOW by Thomas Cole With roots in ...

ASHER BROWN DURAND 1796-1886 The Trysting Tree, 1868 Oil on canvas, 27 1/2 X 42 (69.85 x 106.68 cm.) Signed, lower right Museum purchase, 979-0-117 Asher Durand spent the first two decades of his working life as an engraver. During the 1830s he turned to painting portraits, and then, encouraged by Thomas Cole, to landscapes. By the 1840s Durand was concentrating on landscapes exclusively.