Valley of the Santa Ysabel (Detail)
Frederic Church (1826-1900)
ca.1875
Gift of Henry W. Buckingham and Clifford H. Buckingham

This selection of landscapes from the Berkshire Museum’s permanent collection represents bucolic, picturesque farmlands, great expanses of wilderness, and gritty, urban centers. Whether the scene is real or imagined, different artists from different time periods invite us to enter their worlds. Soak up small details and imagine that you too are perched high on a cliff, standing at the shore of a tumultuous sea, or witnessing a private, fleeting moment in the hustle and bustle of city life. Each landscape walks a different path through nature. But a human footprint, big or small, is always in the scene.

Hudson River School


The Last Arrow
Thomas Moran (1837-1926)
ca.1867
Gift of Zenas Crane

Edward Hudson River School painters like Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran, who followed Cole’s lead, carefully and accurately depicted plants, trees, rocks, and wildlife, which they saw as evidence of God’s creative genius. Details such as a lone American Indian or the vibrant hues of fall foliage were new, uniquely American icons. With great zeal, the nation embraced these images because they not only illustrated their new country’s raw beauty and individuality, but also underscored the idea that a great nation could be forged from this new land’s offerings.

Expansion Westward
In the 1860s and 70s, the United States began exploring the far West at a rapid pace. This wilderness was unlike anything Americans had seen on the East Coast; there were great land masses and chasms, staggering cliffs and wide-open deserts. Government and privately funded expeditions to the Rockies, the Sierra Nevadas, and even South America explored new territory — and sought ways to exploit it. Americans saw territorial expansion as their "Manifest Destiny," meaning a fate certain and ordained by God.

Human Monuments

City and Harbor of New York (Detail)
Edward Moran (1829-1901)
Gift of Zenas Crane

At the turn of the 20th century, the American landscape looked dramatically different than it had just decades before. It burst with industry and commerce. Cities sprouted up across the country. Massive waves of immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Eastern Europe landed on the shores of the United States looking for the American dream. Skyscrapers, the billowing smokestacks of sprawling factories, and wide-spanning bridges like the Brooklyn Bridge became the new national landmarks.

Untitled (Beneath the Roses)
Gregory Crewdson
2004
Berkshire Museum purchase. Partial gift of Joyce Bernstein and Lawrence Rosenthal.