luminism

American  

[loo-muh-niz-uhm] / ˈlu məˌnɪz əm /

noun

1. a style of landscape painting practiced by some mid-19th-century American artists, especially of the Hudson River School, that emphasized meticulously crafted realism and a technically precise rendering of atmosphere and of the effects produced by direct and reflected light.

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Other Word Forms

• luminist noun

Etymology

Origin of luminism

1900–05; < Latin lūmin-, stem of lūmen light + -ism

Example Sentences

Illuminated from behind by an electric light, the painting predicted both the sofa-size luminism of Thomas Kinkade and the big-screen visual effects that still dazzle audiences today.

From Washington Post • Apr. 13, 2022

Theirs was the distinctive language of American luminism, with the surface of sea and sky like a membrane of pure contemplation, every pebble and mast distinct, caught in a kind of sacramental hush.

From Time Magazine Archive

No American art has a more hushed, angelic quality than the best of luminism.

From Time Magazine Archive

Novak discusses European antecedents and parallels in detail, but one is left convinced that luminism, despite its connections to European art history, was one of the first major inventions of American visual culture.

From Time Magazine Archive

Terms which express the same idea in general or in part, are "luminism" and "plein-air painting."

From An Art-Lovers Guide to the Exposition by Cheney, Sheldon