White Mountain Art - End of An Era

End of An Era

The scenes these artists painted became American icons, certainly to the people of New England. As tourists took these White Mountain paintings home, they were widely dispensed throughout the country. Today, these paintings are discovered as far away as California.

By the latter part of the 19th century, landscape images, such as Mount Washington, had lost their appeal with the public. Newer images, such as those of the Rocky Mountains, were outweighing interest in the White Mountains. Also, landscapes in the Hudson River style were "usurped both by new artistic ideas and by the social and technological changes that were rapidly occurring in the region and throughout the country." By the end of the 19th century, these factors, and the advent of photography, led to the gradual decline of White Mountain landscape painting. Many of these paintings, however, are preserved in both private collections and public institutions. Some of these paintings can be seen in New Hampshire at the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, and at the Hood Museum of Art in Hanover.