Saturday, June 12, 2021

A Different View of Hudson

To take our minds off shootings, illegal guns, and Flag Day, Gossips shares this painting by Henry Ary, which a reader alerted me to. It is currently for sale on ebay for $45,000.


It is a painting that I have never seen before, showing South Bay from a rare vantage point--somewhere on the southern shore of South Bay looking north. In the center of the painting is the Hudson Iron Works. Included too are the trestles that carried the railroad over the bay.

The painting must date from sometime between 1851, when the Hudson Iron Works was constructed and the Hudson River Railroad was extended to Hudson, and 1859, when Ary died.
COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

9 comments:

  1. So gorgeous! We're lucky to have such a wealth of artistic documentation. Thanks, Carole for passing this on. Maybe someone has 45 grand and can bring the painting back home to Hudson???

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  2. The date is confusing on the linked page, but somewhere it says 1857.

    There's no clearer depiction I've ever seen of the waterfront buildings at that time, except perhaps Ary's portrait of the city from the much greater distance of South Athens in 1852.

    https://www.albanyinstitute.org/details/items/view-of-hudson-new-york.html

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  3. Why would you or rather how dare you place Flag Day w criminal acts that recently occurred in Hudson? And why do you ask readers to take their minds off of Flag Day?
    Shame on you.

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    1. I agree with you tmdonofrio that it's bizarre and troubling. Thank you for addressing it.

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    2. Previously, Gossips reposted statements from the mayor and police chief, who, after recent events, sought to allay fears of a possible gun incident during the city’s Flag Day festivities. It’s possible Gossips was referring to those fears, albeit the sentence could have been phrased better.

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  4. Anybody here buy their fine art on eBay?

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    1. I always go to that one section of IKEA between the weird lamps and the fake plants.

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  5. Part of the problem with the art market today is the widespread availability of price information. It's easy to go online and check what paintings have sold for, so every fool and his brother thinks he is an expert. This results in many paintings being vastly over-priced, as the seller has seen one example by an artist bring a whopping price at Sotheby's or Christie's, thus they shoot for the moon without having the ability to assess whether the particular painting is a good example and is in good condition with provenance, a proper frame, etc. The Antiques Road Show adds to the problem, as viewers see extraordinary works that are far more valuable than a pedestrian example. I really like the democratization that the Internet affords us in some respects, but it also empowers idiots.

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