400 & Counting: Panorama of the Hudson River

Top: Greg Miller's digital photo Panorama of the Hudson River by Greg Miller, at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz

Middle and Bottom: Cover and photo panorama of both shores of the Hudson River by G. Willard Shear, 1888.

The Hudson River is a 315-mile (507 km) river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. It rises at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains, flows past Albany, and finally forms the border between New York City and New Jersey at its mouth before emptying into Upper New York Bay. Its lower half is an estuary, experiencing tidal influence as far north as Troy.[1] The river is named for Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing for the Dutch East India Company, who explored it in 1609.

This year represents the 400th anniversary of the river's exploration by Henry Hudson. The Hudson has also been known by the original residents as "Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk" or "Muhheakantuck." It also has been known as the "Mauritius" and the "North River."

The Hudson River was observed by Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524 as he became the first European historically known to have entered Upper New York Bay.

Early European settlement of the area clustered around the Hudson. The area inspired the Hudson River School of painting, an American pastoral style.

More on the Hudson River here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_River

As part of the ongoing commemoration of Hudson's exploration, there are many art and historical exhibitions coming up in the coming months.

The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art's "Panaoramas of the Hudson" is a new digital version of the 1910 photographic survey of "every inch of the river's shoreline" that was first issued in 1910, based on photos from the late 19th century by G. Willard Shear and other photographers.

This classic work is on display, along with the modern, digitized version, that gives a poetic and re-scaled version of this photo project. It combines the late 19th century and now 21st century technology used to both record the images along both shores of the mighty Hudson as well as the industrial and technological development that continues to grow alongs its shores.

An interesting project that shows the river from its sources to its endpoint near NYC.

Accompanying this project, the ever fascinating Dorsky Museum has a show of Hudson River School Landscape paintings, "The Hudson River to Niagara Falls:
19th-century American Landscape Paintings from the New-York Historical Society"
as well as an exhibit of contemporary art and sculpture by Hudson Valley Artists 2009
"Ecotones and Transition Zones."



Above: from "Ecotones and Transition Zones": work by Hudson River artists

Dorsky Museum: http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum/

Other Upcoming Hudson River 400th Anniversary Events:
http://www.hudson400.com/CalendarOfEvents.aspx