The Hudson River
The Hudson River: Aquatic Muse is an exhibition that focuses on artwork inspired by the Hudson River.
This gallery aims to look at the Hudson River as a muse. Through this, it serves as an opportunity to explore how our relationships and our interactions with the Hudson River have changed throughout time.
From romantic artists of the Hudson River School to modern art photographers, artists have been inspired by the Hudson River for decades. Whether looking to capture the beauty and abundance of the Hudson and its remaining wilderness, or the mystifying role of a river that is both barrier and gateway, artists have created windows into the past.
Throughout history, the people of New York’s relationship with the Hudson have ebbed and flowed. Once a critical resource for the Lenape who settled on “the river that flows both ways” for millennia, the Hudson River was biodiverse and abundant with shad and oysters, cattails on the shores. Through the 18th century, the Hudson was swarming with sloops and feeding the increasing New York population with oysters from it’s beds. With increased development in the mid-19th century, the wildness and integrity of the river valley rapidly dwindled and has been continually threatened since. The Hudson River School artists clung to the remaining ruggedness and pastoral spirit of the Hudson Valley, and their landscape paintings reflect the themes of both American exploration and settlement. In the following decades, amid expanding urbanization, the Hudson was subject to neglect and pollution, rank with toxic chemicals and sewage. The tides changed when environmentalism gained hold in the 1960’s, with the Hudson serving as the means and a backdrop to the environmental movement. In 1969, the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater set sail on the Hudson as its champion, promoting preservation and education, even aiding the passing of the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972. Today, the River is teeming with wildlife, but continues to be polluted; it remains a vital transportation waterway and place for recreation; it is defended by countless stewards dedicated to protecting and preserving it and it is threatened by climate change; it is a home and inspiration for millions.
The Hudson River has remained a constant in an ever changing landscape.
It will continue to be a force, a resource, and an inspiration for years to come.