Prints of the Adirondacks

Magazine Antiques, June, 1995 by Allison Eckardt Ledes

As early as 1817 there were hotels at the springs in Ballston and Saratoga. The growth of the region as a resort was rapid, and in the next decade Lake George became a much-visited site on the tourist route to Niagara Falls. Small numbers of artists traveled to Caldwell, where a hotel had opened about 1800. The publication of many travel books in the 1820's did much to popularize the region. The traveler Benjamin Silliman remarked on the Adirondacks as a mine of military history, and some travelers found this alone worthy of a pilgrimage. Silliman wrote, "from Albany, upon the course proposed, every part of our way was to be over classical ground....[which one] will tread with awe, on every foot of ground between Albany and the northern lakes."

With the discovery of lithography and chromolithography, inexpensive prints could be made to promote the Adirondacks and used to illustrate magazine and newspaper articles that brought the region to the attention of a much wider audience. The most prolific printers were Currier and Ives, who cleverly offered the same print in different sizes and at different prices to make it more widely available. Among their many subjects were landscapes, camping, former battle sites, hunting, fishing, and other rustic pursuits.

The minister William Henry Harrison Murray published a series of articles about the Adirondacks in a Meriden, Connecticut, newspaper. They were published in 1869 as a book entitled Adventures in the Wilderness; or, Camp-Life in the Adirondacks. The literary tone of the book made it extremely successful, and it did much to encourage tourism in the Adirondacks. A subsequent printing, subtitled Tourist's Edition, included maps of the region and train schedules from various Eastern cities.

Among the most famous artists to illustrate the travel literature about the Adirondacks was Winslow Homer (1836-1910), beginning in 1869. By the 1880's periodicals were publishing articles alerting Americans to the deterioration of the scenic wonders of the Adirondacks. Prints depicted the destruction of forests by the timber industry and its effect on the watershed, as well as the shrinking animal population due to widespread hunting.

The oil paintings of the region by artists of the Hudson River school were often engraved for wider distribution. Thomas Cole (1801-1848), for example, first visited the region in 1826 and several of his sketches were published as engravings. Other artists such as Jasper Francis Cropsey, John Casilear, William Trost Richards, and Thomas Moran followed Cole's lead.

When gift books became popular in the 1850's publishers employed many engravers to illustrate them. A large number of these featured the scenery of the Adirondacks. Artists generally sketched in the Adirondacks in the summer months and prepared their oil paintings in their New York City studios during the winter.

The wide variety of subject matter and types of prints that were issued in single sheets or published in magazines and books reflect the great interest in the Adirondacks during the nineteenth century. The prints also helped create public awareness of the importance of the mountains, which in turn influenced the Federal government to create a national park in order to preserve the region for future generations.

A book published in conjunction with the exhibition (and with the same title) contains 144 pages, 24 color plates, and 150 black-and-white illustrations. Written by Georgia B. Barnhill, the guest curator of the exhibition, it also contains a check list of prints in the Adirondack Museum's collection. It may be obtained for $40 (hard covers) plus $6 for postage and handling from the Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake, New York 12812.