Art of Political Freedom part 1: The Rise of the Hudson River School (and invitation to part 2)
In this first of a two-part lecture series, I introduced the topic of Thomas Cole’s Course of Empire and broader political struggles over the soul of the early republic and humanity more broadly during the 19th century. Within this lecture, you will be introduced to the aesthetical movement of painting that aspired to achieve the transformative power of art outlined by the great Friedrich Schiller which demanded both a rigorous commitment to Truth while at the same time ensuring creative freedom and non-literalism.
This new school which aspired to unite the arts and sciences in a higher synthesis was led after Schiller's death in the young American republic by Alexander von Humboldt, James Fenimore Cooper, Samuel B Morse and a group of artists that came to be known as the Hudson River School led by a figure named Thomas Cole.
Besides being introduced to some extraordinarily beautiful and irony-rich paintings, you will also be introduced to an anti-Schillerian movement of the arts led by a misanthropic medievalist named John Ruskin who created an anti-Renaissance aesthetic movement called ‘The Pre-Raphaelite Society’.
My previous lectures on painting can be found here and here.
Click below to watch The Art of Political Freedom and at the bottom you will find a zoom link to access part two (On Friedrich Church, Albert Bierstadt and the Hudson River School’s Fight for the Soul of America):
Click the zoom link below to access part two of this series on Wednesday February 8 at 8pm Eastern Time: