List of Hudson River School artists

The following is a list of painters commonly associated with the Hudson River School, an apocryphal and originally pejorative coinage that refers to realist landscape painters of the mid-nineteenth-century United States by outsiders, but was not used by the artists themselves. Artists associated with this so-called "School" did not consider themselves members of any such group, other than perhaps calling themselves followers of Thomas Cole. The term is one of a number of ahistorical and contested terms that have gained widespread popular acceptance to describe the boom in landscape representation and consumption at mid century.

List

First generation

Artist Name	Portrait	Famous Work	Birth	Death	Description
Thomas Cole		More images	1 February 1801	11 February 1848	Commonly acknowledged as the founder of the Hudson River School, he painted scenes near his home in Catskill, New York
Asher Brown Durand		More images	21 August 1796	17 September 1886	An engraver who took up landscape painting, he is particularly remembered for his detailed portrayals of trees, rocks, and foliage, especially with his masterpiece, Kindred Spirits. He also mentored and encouraged many other more junior artists.

Second generation

Artist Name	Portrait	Famous Work	Birth	Death	Description
Albert Bierstadt		More images	7 January 1830	18 February 1902	A German-American painter best known for his large, detailed landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion. Though not the first artist to record these sites, Bierstadt was the foremost painter of these scenes for the remainder of the 19th century.
Frederic Edwin Church		More images	4 May 1826	7 April 1900	A student of Thomas Cole, he became a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. Church is perhaps best known for painting large panoramic landscapes, often depicting dramatic natural phenomena, with emphasis on light and a romantic respect for natural detail. In his later years, Church painted classical European and Middle Eastern cityscapes. He created many of his works at Olana.
Jasper Francis Cropsey		More images	18 February 1823	23 April 1900	A first-generation member of the Hudson River School, he painted autumn landscapes that startled viewers with their boldness and brilliance. As an artist, he believed landscapes were the highest art form and that nature was a direct manifestation of God. Cropsey was a founding member of the American Watercolor Society, and was one of few Hudson River School artists to paint in that medium.
Sanford Robinson Gifford		More images	10 July 1823	29 August 1880	One of the leading members of the Hudson River School. Gifford's landscapes are known for their emphasis on light and soft atmospheric effects, and he is regarded as a practitioner of Luminism, an offshoot style of the Hudson River School.
David Johnson		More images	10 May 1827	30 January 1908	Johnson was born in New York City and studied for two years at the antique school of the National Academy of Design. He also studied briefly with Jasper Francis Cropsey. Along with John Frederick Kensett and John William Casilear, he was best known for the development of Luminism.
John Frederick Kensett		More images	22 March 1816	14 December 1872	Kensett is best known for his landscapes of upstate New York and New England and seascapes of coastal New Jersey, Long Island and New England.

Third generation

Artist Name	Portrait	Famous Work	Birth	Death	Description
DeWitt Clinton Boutelle		More images
Alfred Thompson Bricher		More images	10 April 1837	30 September 1908	An American artist, one of the last painters in Hudson River school, known for his exploration of the effects of light and how it reflected, refracted, and absorbed on landscapes and seascapes.
John William Casilear		More images	25 June 1811	17 August 1893	An engraver who was encouraged to take up painting by Asher Durand
Samuel Colman		More images	4 March 1832	26 March 1920	A National Academician whose landscapes show the influence of the Hudson River School, he is believed to have studied under Asher Durand.
Lockwood de Forest		More images	8 June 1850	3 April 1932
Robert Duncanson		File:Robert Scott Duncanson - Landscape with Rainbow .jpg More images	1821	21 December 1872	An African American artist painting before and during the Civil War whose landscapes were influenced by the Hudson River School
Eliza Pratt Greatorex		More images	25 December 1819	9 February 1897
James McDougal Hart		More images	10 May 1828	24 October 1901	A Scottish-born American landscape and cattle painter of the Hudson River School. His older brother, William Hart, was also a Hudson River School artist, and the two painted similar subjects. Sister Julie Hart Beers (Kempson) was also a landscape artist of this school.
William Hart		More images	31 March 1823	17 June 1894	A Scottish-born American landscape and cattle painter, and Hudson River School artist. His younger brother, James McDougal Hart, was also a Hudson River School artist, and the two painted similar subjects. He studied under Jules-Joseph Lefebvre.
William Stanley Haseltine		More images	11 June 1835	3 February 1900	An American painter and draftsman who was associated with the Hudson River School and Luminism. By 1859 he was installed in the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York City, then a central point for American landscape painters; also in the building were Frederic Edwin Church, Albert Bierstadt, and Worthington Whittredge, the latter two having befriended Haseltine in Europe.
Martin Johnson Heade		More images	11 August 1819	4 September 1904	A prolific artist who painted many different subjects including landscapes. There are mixed views as to whether Heade is part of the Hudson River School or was only partially influenced by it. Regardless, he was friends with many of the more prominent members, including Church.
Hermann Ottomar Herzog		More images	15 November 1831	6 February 1932	A German landscape painter who moved to Pennsylvania and painted subjects across the United States. He is considered a part of the Hudson River School, but typically painted a more realistic and less dramatic scene than Bierstadt or Church.
Thomas Hill		More images	11 September 1829	30 June 1908	An English born painter, he moved to the United States at age 15. He produced many fine paintings of the California landscape, in particular of the Yosemite Valley, as well as the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
George Inness		More images	1 May 1825	3 August 1894
Jervis McEntee		More images	14 July 1828	27 January 1891	An American painter of the Hudson River School. He is a somewhat lesser-known figure of the 19th-century American art world, but was the close friend and traveling companion of several of the important Hudson River School artists.
Thomas Moran		More images	12 February 1837	25 August 1926	An artist of the Hudson River School. Thomas Moran's vision of the Western landscape was critical to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. His pencil and watercolor field sketches and paintings captured the grandeur and documented the extraordinary terrain and natural features of the Yellowstone region.
Paul Weber		More images	19 January 1823	12 October 1916
Worthington Whittredge		More images	22 May 1820	25 February 1910	An American artist of the Hudson River School. He was a highly regarded artist of his time, and was friends with several leading Hudson River School artists including Albert Bierstadt and Sanford Robinson Gifford. He traveled widely and excelled at landscape painting, many examples of which are now in major museums. He served as president of the National Academy of Design from 1874 to 1875.