Yosemite, Hudson School, and All That

(From Thomas Doughty/National Gallery of Art, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
"Fanciful Landscape," Thomas Doughty.

One thing the Lemming has noticed about nature is that it's big: very, very, big. Small wonder that artists like Thomas Doughty get carried away while painting their landscapes.

Thomas Doughty was with the Hudson River School, which had more to do with the Catskills and Adirondacks than pencil sharpeners and blackboards: although blackboards actually were black back then, and that's another topic.

Anyway, another Thomas took at least part of Horace Greeley's advice, and went west: all the way to California.


(From Thomas Hill/Crocker Art Museum, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
"Great Canyon of the Sierra, Yosemite," Thomas Hill.

That's "Great Canyon," not "Grand Canyon," which is an unreasonably big washout in another state. Oddly enough, humans in these parts get upset over little washouts, but make a tourist attraction out of one that's a mile deep.

Granted, the Grand Canyon is scenic: and got started long before any humans wandered into this continent, and that's another topic.

Where was the Lemming? Adirondacks, pencil sharpeners, erosion: right.

Thomas Hill's paintings of Yosemite may not be exact representations of the landforms there, but he didn't exaggerate the scenery by much. In Yosemite, there's little need: the place is spectacular.


(From GuyFrancis, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
"U shape valley Yosemite"

Related posts:

• "Night of the Creeping Tree"
  (February 21, 2014)
• " '...Charming, Quiet Neighborhood' "
  (January 3, 2014)
• "Henri Matisse, Color, Light, and Art"
  (January 25, 2011)
• "Saul Steinberg's View from New York City"
  (July 3, 2010)
• "Rio Grand Valley: America's Almost-as-Grand Canyon"
  (September 14, 2009)