Life Along the Hudson Wood Engravings of Hudson River Subjects from Harper's Weekly, 1859-1903

9780879515232

0879515236

Between the years 1859 and 1903, Harper's Weekly published many illustrations of Hudson River subjects, most of which were executed in the medium of wood engraving. Life Along the Hudson reproduces 98 of these magnificent engravings, by some of Americas most celebrated artists, along with the original Harper's text. The success of Harper's Weekly and the history of the Hudson River share a strong link. The reading public of the mid-to-late 1900s had an avid desire for pictures of exciting places and events, and the beautifully executed engravings in Harper's made it the most influential illustrated journal of the day. The Hudson River was a favorite topic, and the articles in Harper's promoted the region's fame throughout America. The triumph of Harper's was its artists: Winslow Homer, Frederick Church Stuart, Thomas Nast, Harry Fenn and Edward Austin Abbey are among the best known of the dozens represented here. The prints and descriptions collected in this volume carry us back over a hundred years, documenting the ways of life that have disappeared from Hudson shores as well as those that still survive. For example, the opulent pleasure steamboats, such as that shown in "Up the Hudson", no longer ply the river's waters, and the days of the great ice harvest, recalled in another famous engraving belong only to the past. Yet views of a glorious yacht regatta near the river's mouth, a grape harvest in a Hudson vineyard and sights such as the Harlem Bridge, West Point, Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh and Vassar College are reassuringly familiar, all part of the perennial magic and appeal of this greatest of American rivers.