Entry 6

The Awful Truth: The Aesthetic of the Sublime

       In the mid-19^th century, the Hudson River School, immerged as the art movement which illustrated transcendentalism, our connection with nature, which influenced American art in general. The Hudson River School had literary and moral associations and had a romantic approach depicting the Hudson River Valley.

      What distinguishes this movement is the concept of the Sublime. The concept of the Sublime was formulated upon Edmund Burke’s distinction of sublimity and beauty. The aesthetic of the Sublime was about seeing Nature as something overbearing, that crushes us with its majestic features – the idea was for it to be overwhelming rather than just beautiful – the “delightful terror”.

     Thomas Cole was the founder of the movement and one of the first American landscape artists.
Other distinguished artists such as Frederic Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt were claimed to be the schools most successful painters until its decline. With the death of Church and Bierstadt, the Hudson River School eventually feel into oblivion.

I have selected some of my favourite paintings of the artists I have mentioned above.

Thomas Cole:

Frederic Edwin Church

Albert Bierstadt

     To conclude this entry, I would like to share some photographs I took of Gerês, one of my favourite places. They might not be as sublime as the Niagara Falls and they might lack photography skills, but for me it’s a place where I am immersed in Nature, where I can relax. It is a place where technology is not present and mundane trends and influences are not peeking out from behind every corner.