Hudson River School

Community Day At Thomas Cole Historic Site Sunday

September 24, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Thomas Cole Historic Site will host a Community Day featuring free access to the site, live music, refreshments and family activities on Sunday, September 28th, from 1 to 4 pm, rain or shine.

Open for free visits will be Thomas Cole’s home and studio plus three art exhibitions: Master, Mentor, Master, featuring the 1845 period paintings of Thomas Cole and his young student Frederic Church; Postcards from the Trail 2014; and Thomas Cole’s Honey, Stanley Maltzman’s drawings of our 200-year-old Honey Locust tree. [Read more…] about Community Day At Thomas Cole Historic Site Sunday

The Last Amateur: The Life of William J. Stillman

August 23, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In a new biography being released in October by SUNY Press, The Last Amateur: The Life of William J. Stillman, author Stephen L. Dyson tells the story of William J. Stillman (1828–1901), a nineteenth-century polymath. Born and raised in Schenectady, NY, Stillman attended Union College and began his career as a Hudson River School painter after an apprenticeship with Frederic Edwin Church.

In the 1850s, he was editor of The Crayon, the most important journal of art criticism in antebellum America. Later, after a stint as an explorer-promoter of the Adirondacks, he became the American consul in Rome during the Civil War. When his diplomatic career brought him to Crete, he developed an interest in archaeology and later produced photographs of the Acropolis, for which he is best known today. [Read more…] about The Last Amateur: The Life of William J. Stillman

Master, Mentor, Master: Thomas Cole and Frederic Church

May 12, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The new exhibition of landscape masterpieces by Frederic Church and Thomas Cole is now open at the Thomas Cole Historic Site, featuring twenty artworks from 1844-1850, focusing on the early work of Church when he began studying with Cole in Catskill, New York.

The exhibition, on view through November 2, 2014, includes plein air studies by Church when he was an 18-year-old apprentice as well as large, highly finished and stunningly skillful paintings that were completed just a few years later. Compare Church’s work to Cole’s from the same time period as they covered the same territory together. [Read more…] about Master, Mentor, Master: Thomas Cole and Frederic Church

Lecture: Thomas Cole, Frederic Church And Science

January 9, 2014 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

The Hudson River School artists worked at a time when great revolutions were sweeping through science. This Sunday January 12, at 2 pm at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, The husband and wife science team Johanna (biologist) and Robert (geologist) Titus will offer an in-depth look into the interactions of Thomas Cole and Frederic Church with the scientists of their time.

Highlights include the Titus’ discovery of the local mountain that Cole used as a model for the famous centerpiece of his series “The Course of Empire.” The Titus’ will sign copies of their new book, The Hudson Valley in the Ice Age, after the talk. [Read more…] about Lecture: Thomas Cole, Frederic Church And Science

Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision

July 18, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown is presenting an exhibition showcasing over forty-five important 19th century landscape paintings by Hudson River School artists. The Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision, organized by the New-York Historical Society, will run through September 29.

The exhibition is part of a collaborative project with The Glimmerglass Festival, Hyde Hall, and Olana State Historic Site, the home of Frederic Church. Each organization features programming related to the Hudson River School throughout the summer. [Read more…] about Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision

Ossining Events, Exhibits Celebrate Bicentennial

April 15, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On April 2^nd 1813, the Village of Sing Sing (now called Ossining) became the first incorporated municipality in Westchester County. To recall and honor that historic day, the Village of Ossining will be holding a series of commemorative activities from April through October of 2013.

The bicentennial celebration, kicks of with “Ossining in 3D,” a historical photo and map show that runs through April 29^th and depicts 200 years of Ossining’s history including its numerous historically and architecturally significant buildings, structures and sites. [Read more…] about Ossining Events, Exhibits Celebrate Bicentennial

The Immigrant Thomas Cole and NY State Tourism

February 28, 2013 by Peter Feinman 1 Comment

Thomas Cole (1801-1848) , English immigrant, is regarded as a father of the Hudson River School, the first national art expression of the American identity in the post-War of 1812 period. It was a time when we no longer had to look over our shoulder at what England was doing and could begin to think of ourselves as having a manifest destiny. Cole also was very much part of the birth of tourism which occurred in the Hudson Valley and points north and west. [Read more…] about The Immigrant Thomas Cole and NY State Tourism

Exhibit: Side-by-Side Hudson River School Imagery

October 18, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Many of the iconic landscape scenes painted by Hudson River School artists, now hanging in major museums all over the world, are the breathtaking views surrounding the Hudson River Valley. Thanks to preservationists and conservationists, several of these vistas remain remarkably similar to their 19th-century appearance and are instantly recognizable. [Read more…] about Exhibit: Side-by-Side Hudson River School Imagery

Call to Artists: Hudson River School Art Trail

September 4, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

To celebrate the many talented artists who continue to be inspired by the landscapes along the Hudson River School Art Trail, the Thomas Cole Historic Site has issued a “call to artists” to submit a new postcard-sized artwork for an exhibition and sale entitled “Postcards from the Trail” that will take place on Sunday September 23, 2012. [Read more…] about Call to Artists: Hudson River School Art Trail

Lecture on Thomas Cole’s ‘New Studio’ Sunday

April 18, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

In 1974, an Italianate building that Thomas Cole had designed and used as his painting studio in the mid-19th century was demolished. It had fallen into disrepair and the art movement that Thomas Cole had founded, the Hudson River School, had fallen out of favor. Over the years, the site was overcome with trees and shrubs, and the exact location of the former building was lost. [Read more…] about Lecture on Thomas Cole’s ‘New Studio’ Sunday