Description
At the beginning of the 19th century Americans had no idea about the extent of their country and what it looked like. Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School gave the first distinctive vision of a specifically American landscape. After the Civil War photographers documented the geology of the West and the progress of the continent-spanning railways. Entrepreneurial painters like Bierstadt presented the Rockies to a wide audience. American ideas about land settlement and progress were shaped by these visions. This four-session class will look at ways that paintings, photographs, and prints participated in creating a national identity.
