Edmund Darch Lewis
American, 1835-1910

Hudson River Scene, 1864
Oil on canvas

 

In this painting, Philadelphia artist Edmund Darch Lewis depicts a landscape in transition. The soft light and color of the sky indicate the sun is low to the horizon and the changing leaves signal it is autumn. On the left side of the canvas, a small waterfall emerges from moss-covered rocks and forms a pond near two solitary figures looking out at the serene Hudson River. Despite its importance as a travel and trade route in mid-nineteenth-century North America, Lewis chose to portray the Hudson River and the surrounding land as untouched by humanity (save for these two observers).

Transfer, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, gift of V.V. Ushanoff, 2022

Visual Description: This is a painting of a river landscape, measuring roughly 4 feet tall and 7 feet wide. In the foreground of the painting is a hilly, forested scene, with craggy rocks and trees turning color from a verdant green to a rusty red orange. There are two small figures to the left, looking out at the river landscape before them. Below them is a small waterfall and pond. The sky is light blue and filled with soft clouds. In the center of the canvas is the Hudson River, reflecting the light of the sky above it.