George Inness (American, 1825-1894) On this date (May 1st) in 1825 American artist George Inness was born. Inness grew up outside Newark, New Jersey, the son of an affluent family. In his first exhibit at the National Academy of Design in 1844; his earliest paintings echoed the tight brushwork of the Hudson River School yet added an impressionistic element. Inness was at the forefront of artists experimenting with impressionistic styles of painting in America after the Civil War, and, like a few