The vivid colors and lush nature scenes in the paintings in the Westmoreland Museum of American Art's new exhibit have to share the spotlight with the aura of mystery surrounding the source of the works by 71 artists.

Titled "American Scenery: Different Views in Hudson River School Painting," the 114 works are on display through Oct. 23. They were loaned to the museum by a private collector who, according to museum Director/Chief Executive Officer Judith Hansen O'Toole, insists on remaining anonymous.

"He feels that too often, the ego of the collector becomes too much a part of the collections," she explained during a free preview reception of the exhibit Saturday.

O'Toole acknowledged that the benefactor was an acquaintance whom she has known since the late 1970s when she attended graduate school at Penn State University. She added that the paintings on display represent only about one-third of the private collection.

Such an extensive art collection can't help but be impressive, but fascination with this collection is enhanced in that all the pieces represent one genre called the Hudson River School of Painting.

Not a school of art in the traditional sense, but a meeting of like-minded nature lovers, Hudson River represents three generations of painters, roughly 1825 to 1875, who cherished the virgin landscapes along the Hudson River region and elsewhere and who captured that love of the land on canvas. Primary among those artists are founder Thomas Cole, his pupil, Frederic Edwin Church, and second generation leader Asher B. Durand.

"They believed that being in nature was communing with God," O'Toole said amid the tinkling of wine glasses and the excited buzz that permeated the gallery during the reception. "They really believed that it was a spiritual activity."

That fact is evident in the works at the exhibit. These artists wanted to capture the land by creating works in pairings or groupings to illustrate nature's continuous changes in fleeting moments of time. Those moments include gathering storm clouds hanging ominously over lush summer greenery or vivid fall colors, giving the observer a sense of the cleansing rains that are about to descend. Other paintings show crystal-clear waterfalls rushing over craggy rock formations beneath sunlit skies.

In the Westmoreland Museum exhibit, O'Toole has grouped the works thematically under headings like "Times of Day," "Weather Conditions" and "Man's Impact on Nature."

The groupings, she said, help to explain the artists' desire to present the natural landscape as an ever-changing and evolving work of beauty that provides a wide spectrum of sensory stimulation, from serenity to impending danger.

"American Scenery: Different Views in Hudson River School Painting" is open through Oct. 23 at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, 221 N. Main St., Greensburg.

Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday. Suggested donation is $3 for admission. Call 724-837-1500 or log onto www.wmuseumaa.org.