Thomas Cole

For other people named Thomas Cole, see Thomas Cole (disambiguation).

Thomas Cole
Daguerreotype of Cole by an unknown photographer, c. 1845, published within the Archives of American Art Journal
Born(1801-02-01)February 1, 1801
Bolton le Moors, Lancashire, England
DiedFebruary 11, 1848(1848-02-11) (aged 47)
Catskill, New York, U.S
Known forPainting, oil on canvas
Notable workThe Titan's Goblet
The Course of Empire
The Oxbow
The Voyage of Life
among others...
MovementHudson River School
The Oxbow (The Connecticut River near Northampton) (1836)
The Course of Empire (1833–1836), this animated image shows all five paintings in the series as separate frames

Thomas Cole (1 February 1801 – 11 February 1848) was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement.[1][2] Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history paintings. Influenced by European painters, but with a strong American sensibility,[3] he was prolific throughout his career and worked primarily with oil on canvas. His paintings are typically allegoric and often depict small figures or structures set against moody and evocative natural landscapes. They are usually escapist, framing the New World as a natural eden contrasting with the smog-filled cityscapes of Industrial Revolution-era Britain, in which he grew up.[4][5] His works, often seen as conservative, criticize the contemporary trends of industrialism, urbanism, and westward expansion.[3]

  1. ^ "Thomas Cole". National Gallery of Art. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  2. ^ Genocchio, Benjamin (June 18, 2006). "In an Untamed Wilderness, Finding the Serene". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 15, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Cotter, Holland (March 15, 2018). "Thomas Cole, American Moralist". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 24, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  4. ^ Kornhauser, Elizabeth (January 8, 2018). "Re-examining Thomas Cole". The Magazine Antiques. Archived from the original on May 8, 2018. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  5. ^ Parry III, Ellwood C. (Summer 1985). "Thomas Cole's "The Hunter's Return"". The American Art Journal. 17 (3): 2–17. doi:10.2307/1594431. JSTOR 1594431. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.