Picturesque Northampton is nestled alongside the Holyoke Range and the Connecticut River, and has been the subject of numerous paintings over the years. One of the most famous is Thomas Cole's View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, After a Thunderstorm (The Oxbow). There was an exhibit at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in 2002 (curated by one of our board members) that discussed the beauty and also how some of these earlier paintings actually were modeled after an engraving by W. M. Bartlett. In case you didn't make it to the gallery to view the 100+ Oxbow paintings, you can find the write up in the New York Times, or click on each image for more information.
The Holyoke Range and Connecticut river still inspires artists today. One of my favorite scarves is actually a hand pained scarf of the Holyoke Range by Sally Dillon.
ReplyDeleteThat particular scarf is not on her webpage but if you go to http://sallydillon.com/ she has an overhead view of the Connecticut river (including the oxbow) in among the purple scarves.
Oh wow, her scarves are beautiful! Its great to see how the beauty of nature is interpreted in different art forms. I know I have loved living in this area, especially around the oxbow and the Connecticut river. I have noticed how some of the natural world has been reflected in some of my own more creative hobbies.
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