The Influence of Emerson, Thoreau, and Transcendentalism on Peace
The philosophical musings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau had a deep and lasting influence on the American way of life. The transcendentalist tenets of self reliance and a deep connection with nature were the values promoted by the movement. Emerson in particular challenged the American intelligentsia of the age to wake up from its metaphoric adolescent slumber and establish a truly American identity borne of personal genius and home-grown creativity. Before the 1850s, America was largely an importer of European knowledge and culture. Even the art and sculpture commissioned for the US Capitol was commissioned from European artists and, in some cases, Americans who had left the United States to study art and live in Europe.
One group that heard the call of the movement was the Hudson River School of painters. These landscape artists tapped personal genius to celebrate the discovery of the American frontier with a burst of exuberance and deep reverence for the natural world. Their canvases presented the mountains, canyons, and forests of the New World as America's cathedrals. Europe had its Gothic cathedrals steeped in the violent history of its past. America had its frontier cathedrals pregnant with the promise of the future. Though the artists revered nature, they also understood its vulnerable relationship with mankind. Broken branches and snapped trees were common motifs used to remind us of the inescapable reality of the connectedness of all life and fragility of that balance.
The painting above presents Emerson and Thoreau as kindred spirits at Walden Pond. Thoreau famously built a cabin next to Walden Pond. The property on which he built the humble cabin was offered to him by his mentor Emerson. Thoreau lived for two years, two months, and two nights in the cabin during which he took notes from which he would eventually write the American classic Walden. The painting employs a number of Hudson River School elements and is a celebration of a specific painting called Kindred Spirits by Hudson River School painter Asher Brown Durand (see below). Durand's painting features a romanticized vision of the Catskill Mountains as the backdrop to two figures, Thomas Cole and William Cullen Bryant. Cole, also a painter of the Hudson River School, and Bryant, the famous poet, journalist, and editor, were close friends. Durand was commissioned to create the painting as a gift to Bryant after Bryant eulogized Cole upon the artist's passing. As such the image is a true touchstone of the connection between nature and the visual and literary arts.
One group that heard the call of the movement was the Hudson River School of painters. These landscape artists tapped personal genius to celebrate the discovery of the American frontier with a burst of exuberance and deep reverence for the natural world. Their canvases presented the mountains, canyons, and forests of the New World as America's cathedrals. Europe had its Gothic cathedrals steeped in the violent history of its past. America had its frontier cathedrals pregnant with the promise of the future. Though the artists revered nature, they also understood its vulnerable relationship with mankind. Broken branches and snapped trees were common motifs used to remind us of the inescapable reality of the connectedness of all life and fragility of that balance.
The painting above presents Emerson and Thoreau as kindred spirits at Walden Pond. Thoreau famously built a cabin next to Walden Pond. The property on which he built the humble cabin was offered to him by his mentor Emerson. Thoreau lived for two years, two months, and two nights in the cabin during which he took notes from which he would eventually write the American classic Walden. The painting employs a number of Hudson River School elements and is a celebration of a specific painting called Kindred Spirits by Hudson River School painter Asher Brown Durand (see below). Durand's painting features a romanticized vision of the Catskill Mountains as the backdrop to two figures, Thomas Cole and William Cullen Bryant. Cole, also a painter of the Hudson River School, and Bryant, the famous poet, journalist, and editor, were close friends. Durand was commissioned to create the painting as a gift to Bryant after Bryant eulogized Cole upon the artist's passing. As such the image is a true touchstone of the connection between nature and the visual and literary arts.
"Kindred Spirits" by Asher Brown Durand
So, why then does this discussion warrant inclusion in the context of peacemaking? Well, it was precisely the arts—literary and especially visual—that opened America's eyes to the awesome natural trove that lied within and beyond the nation's frontier. It was the arts that inspired man to be in awe of nature's beauty and to act as stewards of man's fragile balance with it.
In 1871 another Hudson River School painter Thomas Moran was invited by the United States Geological Survey to participate in an expedition to the unknown region of Yellowstone. Over the course of six weeks, Moran sketched the region's scenery and would later paint his masterpiece The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (see below). This painting, along with photographs produced by survey participant William Henry Jackson, would lead Congress to establish Yellowstone as the first national park in America and indeed the world. The National Park Service has been dubbed "America's Best Idea." It is an idea that has caught on the world over. It is an idea rooted in the kindred spirits of peace, beauty, and the arts.
In 1871 another Hudson River School painter Thomas Moran was invited by the United States Geological Survey to participate in an expedition to the unknown region of Yellowstone. Over the course of six weeks, Moran sketched the region's scenery and would later paint his masterpiece The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (see below). This painting, along with photographs produced by survey participant William Henry Jackson, would lead Congress to establish Yellowstone as the first national park in America and indeed the world. The National Park Service has been dubbed "America's Best Idea." It is an idea that has caught on the world over. It is an idea rooted in the kindred spirits of peace, beauty, and the arts.
"The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone" by Thomas Moran