Beginning in the 1830s, artists began to flock to the White Mountains, drawn by the dramatic scenery and a rising public demand for art that showcased the American wilderness.
The work they produced helped spur widespread interest in the White Mountains, which in turn led to New Hampshire’s first wave of tourism and the development of roads, hotels and local attractions.
By the 1860s, artists in the White Mountains had become so ubiquitous that noted American landscape painter Winslow Homer depicted other artists creating White Mountain art in his 1868 painting “Artists Sketching in the White Mountains.” Homer, like many of his peers, visited the White Mountains repeatedly throughout his career and produced art featuring the activities of tourists and artists along with the spectacular scenery that inspired them.
N.H. Historical Society