Two major paintings by Thomas Cole (1801-1848) have been gifted to the permanent collection of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, also known as Cedar Grove, a National Historic Landmark that includes the home and the studio of the founder of the Hudson River School of painting. [Read more…] about Two Thomas Cole Paintings Donated to Cedar Grove
Hudson River School
Thomas Cole and the American Landscape Movement
From October 26 to November 4, 1825, the display of three paintings by Thomas Cole (1801-1848) – in the windows of Colman’s bookstore on Broadway near Fulton Street in Manhattan – changed the course of American art.
The three paintings became an immediate success when purchased by renowned painters John Trumbull and William Dunlap and engraver Asher Durand. The display launched Cole’s career and gave birth to what is now known as the Hudson River School of landscape painting. [Read more…] about Thomas Cole and the American Landscape Movement
Celebrating Painter Frederic Church’s 200th Anniversary
May 4 marks the 200th birthday of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), the Hudson River School painter who helped shape how Americans imagined Upstate New York.
Over at The Jiffy, a podcast about the arts and sciences of upstate, James Cave kicks off a three-part series marking the 200th Anniversary of Frederic Church’s birth. He starts at Olana, looking out at the same view Church called “the center of the world.” [Read more…] about Celebrating Painter Frederic Church’s 200th Anniversary
Asher Durand’s Painted Puzzle of Progress
What Thomas Carlyle in 1829 called the Age of Machinery – later renamed the Industrial Revolution – radically altered conventional modes of being and marked a turning point in man’s relationship with his environment. New production systems delivered an abundance of goods for consumption, but in the process natural resources were depleted, water and soil polluted, whilst fumes contaminated the air. [Read more…] about Asher Durand’s Painted Puzzle of Progress
Hudson River School Artist Thomas Cole Subject of Documentary Series
Reframing an Empire, a new series on Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole‘s profound influence on American history is now airing on PBS. [Read more…] about Hudson River School Artist Thomas Cole Subject of Documentary Series
After Icebergs: A NY Artist’s 1859 Arctic Adventure
The new edition of After Icebergs with a Painter A Summer Voyage to Labrador and around Newfoundland (Black Dome Press, 2022), by Louis Legrand Noble with an introduction by William L. Coleman, looks at an internationally renowned American artist of fame and fortune at the very peak of his powers.
A pastor and lauded writer with a sharp eye for revealing and humorous detail, Noble describes a journey fraught with danger and drama aboard the schooner Integrity to the latitudes where icebergs dwell with Hudson River School painter Frederic Church. [Read more…] about After Icebergs: A NY Artist’s 1859 Arctic Adventure
A Christmas in Kingston in the 1880s
“I went out after a Christmas tree and some laurel, through seas of mud,” Jervis McEntee of Kingston wrote on Christmas Eve 1881, “to the place where I always go on the cross road between the Flat-bush and Pine bush roads. It rained a part of the time and turned into a snow storm on our return.”
Another year, McEntee’s usual places for a tree were so wet that he settled for a small hemlock on the side of the hill where he lived. It was a hill that offered a panoramic view of the entire village as well as the Rondout Creek and the Hudson River. His father James, an engineer who had helped build the nearby Delaware and Hudson Canal, had built the first house on the hill and the family still lived there. [Read more…] about A Christmas in Kingston in the 1880s
Thomas Cole Site Gets Major Grant for Master Plan
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, NY is a National Historic Landmark located and international destination that includes the home and studios of artist and early environmentalist Thomas Cole (1801-1848).
Cole founded the first major art movement of the United States, now known as the Hudson River School of landscape painting. His home and studios are surrounded by the stunning New York landscapes that he painted, weaving the wilderness of the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River Valley into our national identity. [Read more…] about Thomas Cole Site Gets Major Grant for Master Plan
Paint Tubes, Plein Air and Protest
Living in London in 1841, American portrait painter John Goffe Rand patented his invention of the zinc collapsible paint tube with a stopper cap. He revolutionized the artist’s palette by offering a range of pre-mixed colors in a portable medium.
Young painters packed up their foldable easels and boxed sets of factory-made brushes and set out to explore the great outdoors. [Read more…] about Paint Tubes, Plein Air and Protest
Hudson River School Exhibit Digital Tour Launched
The Albany Institute of History & Art has announced the launch of a new 3D digital tour of their Hudson River School exhibition.
The Albany Institute has one of the largest collections of Hudson River School style paintings and now, visitors can explore the landscapes and scenes of the Hudson River School painters from anywhere in the world. [Read more…] about Hudson River School Exhibit Digital Tour Launched
NYS Museum Opens Tonalism Art Exhibit
The New York State Museum has announced the opening of Tonalism: Pathway from the Hudson River School to Modern Art, an exhibition exploring a late 19th century movement in painting with deep connections to New York State.
On display through June 14, 2020, the exhibition features over 60 artworks – including paintings, prints, and photographs – from institutions across the state as well as private collections. [Read more…] about NYS Museum Opens Tonalism Art Exhibit
Kaatscast Podcast Features Catskills History, Culture
Kaatscast is a new biweekly podcast delivering interviews, arts, culture, and history, from New York’s Catskill mountains.
In the episode, learn about painter Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School, then delve into the cottage communities of the late 1800s, with a current Twilight Park resident. From there, we hear from a New York State forester on the history of the Catskill Park. Then we’re off to Tannersville, to meet the mayor, followed by a chat with Hunter Mountain’s Gary Slutzky. [Read more…] about Kaatscast Podcast Features Catskills History, Culture
Catskill Creek: Exhibition Illuminates Hudson River School
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site has announced the new exhibit “Thomas Cole’s Refrain: The Paintings of Catskill Creek” will be on view from May 4th to November 3rd, 2019.
The exhibition tells the story of Cole’s discovery of Catskill Creek, with its Catskill Mountain background, and his ever deepening attachment to it over the course of eighteen years. [Read more…] about Catskill Creek: Exhibition Illuminates Hudson River School
Albany Lecture Explores Hudson River School, National Parks
The Albany Institute of History & Art is set to host Rebecca Bedell, associate Professor of Art at Wellesley College, on Sunday, October 14 at 2 pm for a lecture on the Hudson River School movement and their relation to America’s national parks.
The lecture is included with museum admission. Space is limited and attendees will receive a wristband at the admission desk the day of the lecture. [Read more…] about Albany Lecture Explores Hudson River School, National Parks
Thomas Cole Exhibit at the Albany Airport
The Albany International Airport Gallery is set to host the upcoming exhibition “Landmark” from September 29, 2018 to February 25, 2019.
The exhibit considers the legacy of Thomas Cole’s paintings and advocacy for environmental stewardship as they echo the concerns of artists and writers today.
A public reception to celebrate the launch of Landmark will be held on Friday, October 5, 2018 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm in the Albany International Airport Gallery. [Read more…] about Thomas Cole Exhibit at the Albany Airport
Major Thomas Cole Exhibit Planned For The Met
A new Thomas Cole exhibition entitled Thomas Cole’s Journey: Atlantic Crossings is opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on January 30, 2018 and traveling to the National Gallery, London in June 2018.
Thomas Cole’s Journey is curated by Elizabeth Kornhauser, Alice Pratt Brown Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor in the History of Art, Yale University, and Christopher Riopelle, Curator of Post 1800 Paintings, National Gallery, London. [Read more…] about Major Thomas Cole Exhibit Planned For The Met
Hudson River School Painters Presentation In Hudson
The Columbia County Historical Society and Historic Hudson will host The Hudson River School (1825-1875), a Slide Show and Conversation with Peter Jung on Sunday, June 25, 2017. An opening reception will begin at 4:30 pm, the lecture will begin at 5 pm.
The mid-19th century landscape painters of the Hudson River Valley depicted the new American landscape in terms where humans and nature were united in peaceful co-existence. These realist paintings were quite detailed, and often combined many images from diverse natural scenes and vistas observed along the Hudson River as well as the extended geography including the Catskills and Adirondacks. [Read more…] about Hudson River School Painters Presentation In Hudson
Hudson River School Art Hikes Planned
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site will host five Hudson River School Art Trail hikes.
These guided hikes go to the painting sites of the 19th-century artist Thomas Cole and his contemporaries including Frederic Church, Jasper Cropsey, Sanford Gifford, and Asher B. Durand. Participants will be able to see the same views that appear in famous landscape paintings. [Read more…] about Hudson River School Art Hikes Planned
Hudson River School Exhibit Goes Online
“What is the Hudson River School?” is the frequently asked question that prompted the Albany Institute of History & Art to present the exhibition The Making of the Hudson River School: More than the Eye Beholds in 2013. The exhibition featured 96 works from the Albany Institute’s collection of Hudson River School paintings, drawings, prints, and historical documents, along with 38 works from several private collections that had not been shown before in a public exhibition.
This exhibition, which highlights such a key component of New York State’s history and the history of American art, has been digitized and is now available as the museum’s first online exhibition, bringing the story of the Hudson River School to greater audiences. [Read more…] about Hudson River School Exhibit Goes Online
Albany Artist Walter Launt Palmer: A Short Biography
Artist Walter Launt Palmer (1854–1932), the son of Albany sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer, enjoyed a revival of interest in the art world in the 2010s. It became common to see his paintings in art magazines and at major auctions across the country, bringing record prices for his oils and watercolors.
As an artist who preferred living and working in his home community of Albany, rather than New York City, Palmer carried forward the creative genius that emerged in the region generations earlier with the Hudson River School and his father’s own sculpture. [Read more…] about Albany Artist Walter Launt Palmer: A Short Biography