Lower Ausable Lake, Adirondacks 

George Luks made this watercolor painting of Lower Ausable Lake, in the Adirondacks. Luks was part of the Ashcan School, a group of artists who turned away from academic art to depict everyday urban life in New York. So why paint a landscape instead of a city? Well, the Adirondacks were becoming a popular tourist destination, accessible to the middle class. Luks's loose brushstrokes and bold colors capture the raw beauty of the natural world, attracting visitors and developing a sense of national identity tied to the land. But, it’s worth remembering that the growth of tourism and leisure activities also had its social cost, including dispossession of indigenous populations. As historians, we look to sources like travel guides, advertisements, and social commentary to understand how landscapes like this were consumed and interpreted in their own time. By understanding the painting's context, we realize it is not just a pretty picture. Rather, it is a reflection of changing social values and economic forces.