Hudson River School - Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole

Thomas Cole was a wonderful artist. He founded the Hudson River School. He was born in 1801 at Bolton, Lancashire in northwestern England. He left England and moved to the United States in 1818 with his family. He had a life long friend, whose name was Asher B. Durand, also a member of Hudson River School.

He rented a small building near his house, Cedar Grove, in Catskill, NY, that was known as the Old Studio. Cole was most noted for his landscape paintings.

A man named Luman Reed became his patron, who provided him with money to continue his work. Reed was a successful local merchant, who moved to NY City and had his own private art gallery. Unfortunately, Reed died in 1836.

On November 22, 1836 Thomas Cole was married to Maria Bartow in the west parlor at Cedar Grove. They were given the west bedrooms on the second floor of the house. Other artists came and visited the Coles sometimes.

During the winter of 1835-36, Cole produced one of his most popular series of paintings, known as “The Course of Empire.” He began to have strong ideas about industrial development and its negative effect on the wild beauty of the Catskill landscapes, which were the source of ideas for his work. He was particularly upset by the growth of the railroads.

On January 1, 1838 Thomas and Maria had a child, whose name was Theodore Alexander Cole.

In March of 1839, Cole produced 4 paintings, to be known as “The Voyage Of Life”, for Samuel Ward. Samuel Ward was a banker and a philanthropist. The price for the painting was $5000. These paintings were of simpler design than “The Course of Empire.” Cole painted a second “Voyage of Life”. A number of Cole’s paintings and poems were published in New York magazines and newspapers.

Thomas Cole died Friday, February 11, 1848. The funeral was held at St. Luke’s Church, in Catskill, NY.

By Judith, 10 years old

Activities:

1) Many of the Hudson River School artists traveled to wilderness areas to hike and sketch. Imagine what it would have been like to go into the Catskill Mountains with NO 4-wheeler, motorbike, etc. List some of the things you would have to carry into the woods just to make sketches of things that you see, and explain how you would do this.

· What would you need?

· What would you wear?

· What would you carry all your supplies in?

Before beginning this assignment click on to the following website and see recent views of the places that Thomas Cole visited, Crawford Notch and Lake Winnepesaukee.

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/whites/crawford.html

http://www.winnepesaukee.com/

2) Even though Cole’s paintings are based on real locations, some of the details are meant to be symbols. Look closely at these paintings for details and discover their symbolism.

Click (Crawford Notch)

http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pimage?50445+0+0

Match the symbol with its meaning:

SYMBOL MEANING

-Tree stump in the foreground -The destruction of theforests

-Dark clouds -The fearful forces of nature

-Horse rider on the road -The scale of humans compared to nature

Click (Lake Winnepesaukee)

http://www.albanyinstitute.org/collections/Hudson/cole.htm

Match the symbol with its meaning:

SYMBOL MEANING

-Dead tree in the foreground -A reminder of the cycles of life

-Large mountain -The awesome power of nature

-The tall skinny weeds to the right -The invasion of people into the wilderness

Questions:

· What other details in the paintings might be viewed as symbols?

· What details would you add to the paintings?