Hudson River School Pl. 7, Thomas Cole - The Course of Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State

Hudson River School Pl. 7, Thomas Cole - The Course of Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State

Oppenheimer Editions Print

26 3/4" x 43"
Limited edition of 200
Published 2008
Blind embossed with the Oppenheimer Editions and New-York Historical Society logos

The Hudson River School Painters, The New-York Historical Society Edition

Within the galleries of the New-York Historical Society is one of America’s treasured collections of this first American School of landscape painters. These paintings, created from direct observations of nature, captured the stirring beauty of Catskill Mountains and the Hudson Highlands. Thus was born the Hudson River School, a term coined about 1880 to refer to the loosely knit group of artists who, together with like minded poets and writers, rose to eminence in New-York during the early nineteenth century. Their mission was to create a self-consciously “American” landscape vision and literary voice based on exploration of the natural world as a resource for spiritual renewal and as an expression of cultural and national identity.

This edition is printed with pigments on 100% rag watercolor paper and faithfully reproduces the brilliant, articulate colors for which the original paintings are famous. Each sheet is blind embossed with the official New-York Historical Society stamp on the bottom left. Oppenheimer Editions' stamp also appears on the bottom right. Every print is numbered and stamped on the back with the signature of the president of the New-York Historical Society. This museum-authorized edition is limited to only 200 of each print. Oppenheimer Editions and the New-York Historical Society have an exclusive agreement that prohibits another similar printing for a minimum of seventy-five years.

Established in 1999, Oppenheimer Editions has partnered with prestigious museums to make prints from their holdings. Works from the New-York Historical Society’s unrivaled collections of John James Audubon’s watercolors and the Hudson River School paintings are examples of art that otherwise would be unobtainable. Among the institutional collections we have partnered with are the American Museum of Natural History, the Field Museum, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. These are not mere reproductions. They are limited-edition fine art prints made with the finest quality archival pigments on rag watercolor paper and executed to exacting standards.

Click here for more Hudson River School prints from the New-York Historical Society Edition