The Mountain

The Mountain presents all the important questions about art and what it is to be an artist. Set in Woodstock, NY between 1900-1979, the story reveals the rich cultural history of the Woodstock Artists' Colony and reflects much of the local and NY state history of the early 19th century. The Mountain is also a history of American Art. Since the turn of the 19th-century, the course of American art took a major turn from earlier academic principles to radical modernist influences from Europe. The Mountain traces this course through the eyes of its protagonist, Jacob (Jake) Forscher, a self-made painter who tries to wend his way through the maze of new art, new ideas, and a new post-world war that turned mores and values upside down. The uncertainty of what "art" is - or what it ought to be - dogs Jake throughout the novel. Though a fictional work, The Mountain is set mainly in the burgeoning art colony of Woodstock, New York, and contains historically authentic people and places allowing for the book to relate much local and New York state history of the early 19th century. Hudson River life, (Day Liners, ice harvesting, etc.), the bluestone industry, the building of the Ashokan Reservoir, and especially the growth and development of the Woodstock art colony serve as the setting for the story. Woodstock 'notables' such as Birge Harrison, John Carlson, Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, Hervey White, and others, are included in the book as 'characters' with whom Jake interacts and from whom he learns about the world of art. Opening in New York City with the famed "Armory Show" of 1913, the book ends in Woodstock, New York ten years after the equally famed 1969 Woodstock Festival
About the Author: RAYMOND J. STEINER is editor/art critic for ART TIMES, the go to source for Creatives seeking Resources and Insights, which he co-founded in 1984. He has profiled over 100 American and European artists and regularly reviews or critiques art exhibits and art books. Among the books he has authored are "23 Woodstock Artists"; "Heinrich J. Jarczyk: Toward a Vision of Wholeness"; "Heinrich J. Jarczyk: Etchings 1968-1998"; "The Art Students League of New York: A History"; and "Quarry Rubble" (a book of poetry). Steiner has written the introductions to many art catalogues and has lectured on art-related subjects both here and abroad. His works have been translated into German, French, Italian and Chinese. He is a member of the American Society for Aesthetics, the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), the Salmagundi Club, and Artist's Fellowship, Inc. for which he served as Vice President. Because of his long association with art and artists, "The Mountain" with its story of the personal development of an artist, is a novel he was uniquely qualified to author. Into its characters, its plot, its setting in the Woodstock art colony, have gone some twenty-five years of interaction as an artwriter familiar with the inner workings of the art world both in Woodstock and in New York City. Knowledge of the artscene in Woodstock, NY, in fact, informed an entire chapter in his book, "The Art Students League of New York: A History." In addition, Steiner has lived and worked in the region since 1945, allowing for an intimate knowledge of local lore, customs, and history. His first-hand experience of life on the Hudson River (he once worked as a barge captain on the river), with local industry (he once worked as a laborer, a handyman, a railroad worker on a section, a teamster, a county worker, a teacher in the Kingston Consolidated Schools, among other jobs), lends an authenticity to his story of a young man growing up in and around Ulster County. His travels have allowed for "The Mountain" to encompass a wider spectrum. His first full-length novel he has deliberately chosen to present "The Mountain" as a work of fiction. By presenting the life of an artist in the guise of a "story" it is his hope that he could reach a wider audience, thereby informing a larger public of the unique position of the artist as well as the inner workings of the greater artworld.