In this exhibition, Paul Hamilton was inspired by the shining lights of the Hudson River School of painting and their near kinsmen, the Luminists, to go to areas, and sometimes to the same location, where they painted. At ease according to the mastery of his own vision, he has confronted the great themes of American landscape art with a vigorous, balanced and sensitive eye. The settings for the paintings begin with various locations on the East Coast: the Hudson River Valley, the Lake Placid region of upstate New York, Western Pennsylvania, Vermont, the Maine Coast. Moving West, the settings comprise spectacular scenes from Glacial National Forest in Montana and Yosemite and King’s Canyon Forests in California. It is interesting to recall that one of the most powerful inducements to the creation of our National Park System was the exhibition of paintings of Western scenes in the nation’s Capitol in the 1870s. This exhibition is a particularly timely one because it coincides with two current major exhibitions in New York City. At the Cooper-Hewitt Museum there is a show featuring the work of Frederick Church, Thomas Moran and Winslow Homer and at The National Academy of Design featuring the art of the Luminist painter, James Suydam, and works from his own collection. Paul Hamilton is deeply united with all of these artists in his love of nature and his wonderful ability to capture both the awe and the intimate visual appeal afforded by America’s varied landscape. He demonstrates the undying delight of America’s natural splendor and how pleasing it is for the artist and his audience when a painter of Paul Hamilton’s stature is willing to respond to the invitation to interpret it afresh for a new generation.

Paul Hamilton is an avid plein air artist. The lure of the out-of-doors and the excitement of coming upon a new vista is richly communicated in this collection. At the same time, the artistic aim of transforming visual reality and not simply transcribing it is gracefully and powerfully realized. One is immediately drawn to the painting by the splendor of the setting; one returns again and again to the painting because of the richness and subtlety of the brush stroke and the atmosphere evoked by color and synthesis. Paul Hamilton continues to reveal himself to be an artist overflowing with artistic excellence and who never fails to quicken and enliven the eye of the beholder.