12 Female Artists of the Hudson River School

The Hudson River School was a movement in American landscape painting being the first independent artistic tradition in the country. It was very popular in the middle half of the 19th century due to its focus on American scenery and nationalism. Notable artists among the Hudson River School are Thomas Cole, Frederick Edwin Church, and Albert Bierstadt. Books about the Hudson River School usually focus on male artists, but there’s much more to the story. Many women also painted the American landscape in the 19th century, as both professionals and amateurs. While they’re not as well known today as their male counterparts, many were very highly regarded in their time. Meet the women artists of Hudson River School.

1. Louisa Davis Minot

Louisa Davis Minot is known only through two paintings of Niagara Falls. They are spectacular and show that she was skilled and well-trained. Many artists painted Niagara Falls, and Minot’s hold their own against any of the others. She also wrote a vivid description of the Falls, which was published in North American Review in 1815.

2. Sarah Cole

Sarah Cole was the younger sister of Hudson River School founder Thomas Cole and a talented artist in her own right. The scenes she chose to paint were often similar to those of her brother, which isn’t surprising given that they were close and were known to have gone on sketching trips together. In addition to her own works, she also made some copies of her brother’s paintings.

3. Eliza Pratt Greatorex

Eliza Pratt Greatorex achieved great respect in American art and New York society alike. In fact, she was successful enough to be able to support herself and her young children through her art after being widowed in 1858. Greatorex painted scenes of the northeastern United States and of Europe. She was the first woman to attain membership in the National Academy of Design – showing the esteem in which she was held during her career.

4. Helen Mary Knowlton

Helen Mary Knowlton studied under French-trained landscape painter William Morris Hunt and eventually took over teaching his class at his request. She has also trained in Munich, Germany, which was popular at the time. Knowlton had a Luminist’s interest in showing lighting effects and an Impressionist’s loose method of handling paint. In addition to teaching and painting, she wrote extensively about art and was a longtime art critic for the Boston Post.

5. Laura Woodward

Laura Woodward was originally from New York, where she first painted and exhibited her work. However, she moved to Florida in the second half of her life, and that’s where she made some of her most compelling paintings. They show Florida’s landscape and foliage, and they’ve been credited with making people interested in traveling to Florida in the early 20th century. Her work also convinced Henry Flagler to establish the Hotel Royal Poinciana in Palm Beach. Though the scenery is very different between her northern and southern subjects, both share a vibrant color palette.

6. Mary Josephine Walters

Mary Josephine Walters, the last female Hudson River School artist we will talk about, studied with the School’s leader Asher Durand, and their work has obvious stylistic similarities. She was a full-time professional artist and exhibited at major institutions like the National Academy of Design and the San Francisco Art Association. Her works present detailed views of scenery in New York’s Hudson River Valley. They often feature lots of foliage and beautiful effects of light.

7. Susie Barstow

Susie Barstow painted many landscapes during her well-regarded career, but unfortunately, few survive. She preferred to depict forests thick with foliage, often illuminated by radiant light. She traveled through harsh conditions to observe her scenes up close, climbing to the top of American and European mountains in the snow and ice. It’s difficult enough to imagine doing this today, never mind in the 19th-century wearing a massive skirt! Barstow’s hiking prowess attracted her much attention both in her day and now, as have the paintings she made of these sites.

8. Julie Hart Beers

Julie Hart Beers is sometimes credited as the only female professional Hudson River School artist. Of course, we know that’s not true! Nonetheless, she achieved a then-rare feat of maintaining a successful artistic career while married, and she used her art to support herself and her daughters after her first husband’s death. She often worked alongside her brothers William Hart and James Hart, who were also Hudson River School painters. Unlike some of the other women, we’ll talk about here, many of Beers’ vibrant northeastern landscape paintings survive today. They use rich colors and bold brushstrokes. In addition to working on traditional rectangular canvases, she had the unusual habit of painting on round panels.

9. Harriet Cany Peale

Harriet Cany Peale painted a variety of different subjects and styles. She made detailed landscape paintings like Kaaterskill Clove, where she emphasized atmospheric effects such as fog. She also made portraits and still lifes in style inspired by old masters. As the second wife of Rembrandt Peale, Harriet was a member of America’s first artistic dynasty. The Peale family was full of skilled artists of both genders. Harriet was no exception, and that’s how she met her husband. The two of them worked and traveled together, and she often worked on reproductions of his most popular paintings. Her own works hang in several major American museums.

10. Fidelia Bridges

Fidelia Bridges was a commercially successful artist best known for her watercolors, especially of birds and flowers. These pieces were usually small but full of little details drawn from her close observation of nature. She frequently sold them to publishers to be printed in books, magazines, and cards. Bridges began painting in her 20s after befriending sculptor Anne Whitney. The two of them banded together with other female artists throughout their careers, sharing studios and visiting Europe together. Bridges was a member of the National Academy of Design and the American Watercolor Society – both prestigious institutions.

11. Elizabeth Gilbert Jerome

Elizabeth Gilbert Jerome had an evil stepmother who took some pretty drastic actions to prevent her from becoming an artist. So Jerome waited a few years, then pursued her art anyway. Like her eventual neighbor, Frederick Edwin Church, she made beautiful paintings of tropical landscapes. It’s nice to think that they had some sort of artistic camaraderie, but there’s no evidence to support this. Jerome gave up art for a while, but she took up miniature painting in her later years. She made hundreds of tiny works in the last six years of her life.

12. Mary Blood Mellen

Born in Vermont and raised in Massachusetts, Mary Blood Mellen studied painting as a young woman at a girls’ academy. She later apprenticed under Fitz Henry Lane, who provided her with direct access to his drawings and paintings, allowing her to create meticulous copies of his work. Although primarily known as a copyist, Mellen also produced numerous original works. She painted in the Luminist style, favoring landscapes and seascapes, particularly those of Massachusetts and Maine.

There were many more women who worked in the Hudson River School. We don’t know very much about many of them, but you can see their works at the links provided in the bibliography.