The Düsseldorf Academy connection
Düsseldorf, north of Cologne on the Rhine River, may be smaller in size, but its impact is at least equal in the art world, particularly in light of its ties to American art movements and vice versa. Much of the region’s artistic renown came from the prestigious Düsseldorf Academy (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf).
In the mid-19th century, young American artists flocked to Düsseldorf to study with members of a landscape painting movement at the academy. Steeped in German Romanticism, it advocated a “plein air” style of a painting, but with a very subdued color palette, and strong linear drawing technique.
It was in Düsseldorf that American painters such as George Caleb Bingham and the German-American painter Albert Bierstadt refined their style to create the sweeping landscapes of The Hudson River School. Works by the Düsseldorf landscape painting school – both by Americans and Germans – can be viewed in the permanent collections of the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf.
Link to: www.kunstakademie-duesseldorf.de
Link to: www.kunstpalast.de/en