James McDougal Hart (May 10, 1828 – October 24, 1901), was a Scottish-born American landscape and cattle painter of the

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

Family and education

Hart was born in Kilmarnock,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, and was taken to America with his family in early youth. His older brother, William Hart, was also a Hudson River School artist, as were his younger sister

Julie Hart Beers Julie Hart Beers Kempson (1835 – August 13, 1913) was an American landscape painter associated with the Hudson River School who was one of the very few commercially successful professional women landscape painters of her day. Life Born Julie H ...

and his two daughters, both figure painters, Letitia Bonnet Hart (1867 - Sept. 1953) and Mary Theresa Hart (1872–1942). In

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

he trained with a sign and carriage maker— possibly the same employer that had taken on his brother in his early career. James later returned to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

for serious artistic training, studying in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

and as a pupil of Friedrich Wilhelm Schirmer at the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová ...

. He is associated with the

Düsseldorf school of painting The Düsseldorf school of painting is a term referring to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Academy (now the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf or Düsseldorf State ...

Career

Hart returned to America in 1853. He exhibited his first work at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

in 1848 and became an associate in 1857 and a full member in 1859. He was particularly devoted to the National Academy, exhibiting there over a period of more than forty years and serving as vice president late in his life from 1895 to 1899. Like his brother William, James also exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association (he lived for a time in Brooklyn) and at major exhibitions around the country. Along with most of the major landscape artists of the time, Hart based his operations in New York City and adopted the style of the

. While he and his brother William often painted similar landscape subjects, James may have been more inclined to paint exceptionally large works. An example is ''The Old Homestead'' (1862), 42 x 68 inches, in the collection of the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

in Atlanta, Georgia. James may have been exposed to large paintings while studying in Düsseldorf, a center of realist art pedagogy that also shaped the practices of

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not ...

and

Worthington Whittredge Thomas Worthington Whittredge (May 22, 1820 – February 25, 1910) was an American artist of the Hudson River School. Whittredge was a highly regarded artist of his time, and was friends with several leading Hudson River School artists includin ...

. Like his brother William, James excelled at painting cattle. Kevin J. Avery writes, "the bovine subjects that once distinguished is worksnow seem the embodiment of Hart's artistic complacency." (p. 250 in ''American Drawings and Watercolors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Volume I: A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born Before 1835'') In contrast with the complacency of some of his cattle scenes, his major landscape paintings are considered important works of the Hudson River School. A particularly fine example is ''Summer in the Catskills'', now in the

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...

in Madrid, Spain. Among Hart's students was the Hudson River School painter Evelina Mount.Black, M. ''American Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts: Works by Artists Born Before 1816'', vol. I. Detroit, Michigan, 1991, p. 140.Naylor, Natalie A. ''Women in Long Island's Past: A History of Eminent Ladies and Everyday Lives''. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2012. Hart is interred at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several blo ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York.

Gallery

File:A stream in the adirondacks hart.jpg, ''A Stream in the Adirondacks'' (1859), oil on canvas, 21.125 x 35.25 inch.; collection of

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

File:Hart Gleneida Lake Putnam County NY 1863.jpg, ''Gleneida Lake,

Putnam County, New York Putnam County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,668. The county seat is Carmel. Putnam County formed in 1812 from Dutchess County and is named for Israel Putnam, a hero in t ...

'' (1863) oil on canvas, 17.5 inch. x 30.25 inch. File:JM Hart Cows Watering 1865.jpg, ''Cows Watering'' (1865) oil on canvas, 26.75 inch. x 56.75 inch. File:JM Hart Summer in the Catskills.jpg, ''Summer in the Catskills'' (1865) oil on canvas, collection of

File:Artwork images 619 243873 jamesmcJames McDougal Hart - Harriman New York Overlooking the Hudson.jpg, ''Harriman New York Overlooking the Hudson'' File:JM Hart Landscape with Stone Bridge.jpg, ''Landscape with Stone Bridge'', Pencil on paper, 5.5 inch. x 7.8125 inch., collection of

File:James McDougal Hart - 'The Old Homestead', 1862, High Museum.JPG, James McDougal Hart - The Old Homestead, oil on canvas, 1862, High Museum of Art

References

External links

Artwork by James McDougal Hart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, James 1828 births 1901 deaths Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery People from Kilmarnock 19th-century American painters American male painters Hudson River School painters Scottish emigrants to the United States Animal artists American landscape painters 19th-century American male artists Düsseldorf school of painting

Family and education

Career

Gallery

See also

References

External links