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Article: The Hudson River School. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
- Article from:
- The Nation
- Article date:
- November 7, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1987 The Nation Company L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Hudson River School
It is a truth rarely in need of mention that works of art have an identity as material objects--that they are made of paint and bronze and cloth and wood. In recent times, to be sure, substance has asserted itself subject, so that works of visual art often refer internally to the material conditions of their realization, and are about what they are made of. It would be false to ascribe so contemporary an aesthetic to the paintings of the Hudson River School, as it was somewhat derisively labeled but it is also impossible not to be struck by their status as furniture-as objects of interior decoration that summon up the other components ...