The document discusses the Hudson River School, a group of American landscape painters from the 1850s. The group was founded by Thomas Cole and included other prominent artists like Albert Bierstadt and Frederick Church. They are known for their "idealized naturalism" style of landscape painting. Their compositions typically featured the horizon line in the lower third, with distinct foreground, middle ground and deep space to create dramatic landscapes. Students will create landscape sketches and drawings using these Hudson River School compositional strategies.

1. Landscape Drawing &
Composition
The Hudson River School

2. The Hudson River School
• New York City based painters that began
working in the 1850’s
• Thomas Cole is considered the founder of the
group
• Albert Bierstadt and Frederick Church were
other prominent painters from this era
• The artists created a standard for landscape
painting called “idealized naturalism”

3. Albert Bierstadt “Indians Spear Fishing” 1862

4. Albert Bierstadt, “Lake Tahoe” 1868

5. Albert Bierstadt, “Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mount Rosalie” 1866

6. Composition
• These artists chose dramatic landscapes with
the horizon line placed in the lower third of
the page so that the sky is very large and
visible
• The composition is made of foreground,
middle ground and deep space

7. Thomas Cole, “The Oxbow” 1836

8. Thomas Cole, “The Oxbow” 1836
Horizon Line

12. What We’ll Do
• Create a series of landscape sketches (today)
• Create TWO highly developed landscape
drawings (next week)
• Use graphite and oil pastels
• Use the compositional strategies of the
Hudson River School
– Horizon Line placed in lower third of composition
– Distinct use foreground, middle ground and deep
space to create a dramatic scene