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Ever since Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and William Clark (1770-1838) set out in May 1804 to explore and map the American West, see the Rocky Mountains and reach the Pacific by land, Americans have been fascinated with the natural wonders of this great country.

American art and literature in the 19th century was dominated by the theme of tension and conflict between the uncontrollable forces of nature and the civilizing powers of man.

And why not? The "conquest" of the North American continent, particularly its western regions, provided a constant and compelling drama in the form of an impasse between nature and civilization. Could there be any greater subject about which to write or paint?

One group of artists felt that way. They were known as the Hudson River School, America's first loosely organized though highly identifiable group of working artists that flourished between 1825 and 1875, and they were in love with the American landscape.

"When they first encountered the American wilderness, it was almost frightening because it was too wild," Judith Hansen O'Toole says about the early members of the Hudson River School. "There was no organization, and there had been no stamp of man."

O'Toole, director and chief executive officer of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, has just completed a groundbreaking book, "Different Views in Hudson River School Painting" ($35, Columbia University Press), due out in September, and has curated an unprecedented exhibition, "American Scenery," at her museum.

The exhibit, which opens today and continues through Oct. 23, will travel to Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, University of New York, New Paltz, N.Y., from Feb. 4 through May 14, and then move on to Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Center County, from Oct. 7, 2007, through Dec. 16, 2007.

Featuring 114 paintings by 71 artists who represent three generations of the Hudson River School, the show includes works by nearly all of the most famous practitioners associated with the group, such as the group's founding father, Thomas Cole, as well as Jasper Francis Cropsey, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Asher B. Durand, Frederic Edwin Church, John Frederick Kensett and John William Casilear, to name a few.

When Cole (1801-1848) first visited the Kaaterskill Falls in New York's Hudson River Valley during that eventful summer of 1825, tourism in the Catskills had already begun. Like Cole, throngs of adventure seekers already were traveling outside of the big cities to see the wonder of the American landscape.

"There was a real sense that the new world was a gift of God to the American people, that this was a virgin landscape," O'Toole says. "And so there was a real sense of spirituality as communicated through the landscape."

By that time, the English-born Cole already had begun to make detailed and systematic studies of the landscape surrounding Pittsburgh, where he moved with his family in 1823 after first settling in Steubenville, Ohio. After moving to Philadelphia shortly thereafter, and then New York, he began making frequent trips to the Hudson River Valley to paint what he saw there in terms of seasons, time of day and grand spectacle.

These works, which he exhibited back in New York City, quickly gained notice by fellow artists and the public at large.

His work set precedence, not only for its realistic portrayal of the beauty of the natural landscape, but his unique ability to capture the seasons, time of day and mood of a particular place.

In turn, many artists turned their attention to the Hudson River Valley, and the Hudson River School was born.

According to O'Toole, all of the artists took up similar interests in capturing themes of changing seasons, times of day, and weather conditions, and they shared in the belief of "natural religion."

"The artists of the Hudson River School shared an interest in portraying different views of the untamed American landscape as reflections of our unique national character, and as a way of communicating universal truths and philosophical concepts," she says.

To emphasize this point, O'Toole has laid out the exhibition in a unique way, so the viewer can see how different generations of Hudson River School artists interpreted the majestic American landscape. She has displayed the paintings grouped by pairs or arranged in series under particular themes, such as "Times of Day," "Weather Conditions, Atmosphere and Mood," "Seasons" and "Man's Impact on Nature."

Arranging the paintings under such themes was a natural choice, says O'Toole, because many of the painters often made paintings with such themes in mind.

"In order to make the comparisons between the different conditions of the landscape, they tended to make pairs and series of paintings," O'Toole says. "So, a lot of the paintings in here are by the same artist, and they are intentional pairs."

One such intentional pair is by Clinton Loveridge (1824-1902). Seasons being a favorite subject of this artist, Loveridge often painted the seasonal changes as they occurred upon the natural landscape. In one of the two identically sized, small paintings, a hillside is cast in the green glow of spring, complete with grazing cows in a meadow. The other offers the same vista, but painted in vibrant autumnal hues with figures standing next to a lake.

In another pairing by Loveridge that tackles both spring and autumn on a similar hillside, one can see the landscape, not from the same exact vantage point, but rather in successive view. "Here, the compositions are also tied together," O'Toole says.

"Samplers" is another subcategory tied in with certain themes. Among the samplers on display is one by William Trost Richards (1833-1905) from 1860 and another by Regis Francis Gignoux (1816-1882) believed to be from around the same time.

"These were marketing pieces," O'Toole says of the unusual ensembles, each made up of several tiny paintings grouped within a singular frame. "These are the kinds of things they took around to galleries and also showed to collectors. They were intended to not only show their abilities, but also how keen they were at observation."

Besides often having an overall intention or theme in mind, O'Toole says many of the painters relied on symbolism in the paintings to represent various ideas about the natural landscape and, in particular, man's encroachment upon it.

That's why, among the many landscape paintings on view, visitors will find animals such as cows and deer, each representing different ideas.

"The cow is the symbol of the least-intrusive occupation of man, which is farming," O'Toole says. "Deer, on the other hand, symbolize nature without man whatsoever."

Another curious symbol in particular seems strangely recurring when walking through the show: an empty canoe.

"That was sort of a symbol of reverence to Thomas Cole as father of the school," O'Toole says, "the empty boat meaning that he had passed away. The master was gone."

Astonishingly, all of the paintings on view are from the collection of one man. Although O'Toole declined to give his name as a matter of maintaining his anonymity, she says she has known him since 1978 when, as a graduate student in art history at Penn State, she met him while working an internship at Penn State's Palmer Museum of Art.

He began collecting these works back in the mid-1950s when they were largely unpopular and could be purchased from galleries rather inexpensively, O'Toole says. "Now, of course, with the soaring popularity -- and prices -- of American art, they are worth far more.

For example, the daughter of the founder of Wal-Mart, Alice Walton, reportedly bought "Kindred Spirits" (1849) by the Durand in May for at least $35 million.

The painting, which depicts William Cullen Bryant and Thomas Cole in Kaaterskill Clove, is believed to have garnered the highest price ever paid for a painting by an American artist, although Walton and Sotheby's, from which she bought the work at a silent auction, will neither confirm nor deny the actual purchase price.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given such a thoroughly comprehensive and pleasantly exhaustive display, there is a painting by Durand in this show.

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