Thomas Cole

Hudson River school paintings are characterized by little to no evidence of human civilization and when they do feature humanity, all traces of it are peaceful and small, emphasizing the respect the painters had for the land they portrayed. Arguably the first painting of the Hudson River school movement was The Oxbow, completed by Thomas Cole in 1836. It depicts the Connecticut River Valley just after a thunderstorm and true to the movement it began, features just one human being - a tiny self portrait of Cole himself in the foreground. The gentle farmland and receding storm are stronger political statements than one might think - they present the ideals of the artist. Many people think that The Oxbow in particular is a commentary on how civilization confronts wilderness and in turn, what Thomas Cole believed to be the best method for it to do so - pastoral life and coexistence with nature. In 1836, the industrial revolution was well under way. Artists such as Cole saw urbanization as a bad thing and used their paintings as a way to discuss their view that nature was graceful, holy and to be respected. The movement continued to grow despite Thomas Cole’s unexpected death from pneumonia in 1848. Painters including Frederic Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt carried the torch and within 10 years, the Hudson River school achieved mainstream popularity. Artists continued using the Hudson River style to emphasize the importance of the American wilderness. It was also at this…

Born in England in 1801, Thomas Cole emigrated to the US, specifically Ohio, with his family when he was 17, and this is where he found the inspiration for his career. Thomas Cole taught himself and found inspiration in the nature and landscapes around him providing him with the content of his future pieces of work. Thomas Cole was born in 1801 in Bolton, Lancashire, England. His family emigrated to the United States, finally settling in Steubenville Ohio when he was 17. His first introduction…

Throughout American art, nature has played an important role in depicting a specific time and place in American history or serving as beautiful backdrops to showcase wealth and stature. Weather it is Jutus Engelhardt Kuhn’s portrait of Fig 3.4 Henry Darnall III or Benjamin West’s depicting Fig 4.23 The Death of General Wolfe, we are taken back to a specific time in our country’s history and as we move through time artist like John Vanderlyn’s portrayal of Fig 4.52 The Death of Jane McCrea he…

The Oxbow is a landscape painting composed by Thomas Cole in 1836 using oil on canvas as medium. The painting was a view from Mount Holyoke, Northamption Massachussets after a thunderstorm. At first glance i can't help but to appreciate the beautiful interpretation of wilderness to the left and the first modern society to the right. Also, This piece shows how unpredictable nature can be due to calamaties and no man can do anything about it. The Oxbow by Thomas Cole is a masterpiece depicting…

Thomas Cole who was considered a renowned painter and father of the Hudson River School of art wrote “American Scenery.” Within this piece he expressed his overall feelings about America and the importance of the sublime nature that surrounds us. Although his paintings could relay a story within themselves, Cole felt the need to further educate those who would listen. Through his work and one of his many paintings titled “The Oxbow” Cole expresses his view on having a deeper consideration for…

the rise of European Romanticism and the influence of Romantic ideas in the arts. European romanticists greatly loved nature and disdained technology, they glorified the rural way of living and believed poetry to be superior to the sciences. Out of the many famous artists at that time is Thomas Cole. Born in 1818 in Bolton, he is an English artist, who moved from Lancashire and settled in New York 1832. He is known for his famous American inspired landscape paintings and is considered the…

Thomas Cole – founder of the Hudson River School – once stated, “Must I tell you that neither the Alps nor the Appenines, no, nor even Aetna itself, have dimmed, in my eyes, the beauty of our own Catskills? It seems to me that I look on American scenery, if it were possible, with increased pleasure. It has its own peculiar charm – a something not found elsewhere. I am content with nature: would that I were with art!” (Notable Hudson River Quotes). This quote was part of this movement that began…

Landscape art, is the art of landscapes such as natural scenery mountains, trees, and forests are the focal point for the subject. The two main traditions are from western or eastern landscapes perspectives. I will be comparing or contrasting the works of Thomas Cole and Watanabe Shiko. There are vast differences within the perspective, style and coloring when viewing the different landscape techniques. When we first view a painting we notice the visual details. The color, size, location and…

Thomas Cole was an influential American Romantic landscape painter and founder of the Hudson River School. While he was born in England in 1801, his family moved to America while he was in his teens (2016). He then became a wood engraver and then joined his father’s wallpaper business. Shortly after leaving the family business for the second time to pursue painting his work began to attract attention (Avery, 2009). Three of his landscapes were noticed by artists Colonel John Trumbull, Asher B.…

The name of the work is The Hudson River School by Thomas Cole. It is a combination of Romanticism and Nationalism. It was made on the ground which is material that is used to support canvas or panel. The ground of this painting was consisted of a layer of underpaint in a white or tinted hue. The color of the ground unifies the artist's varied color palette. This work has a use of atmospheric perspective. By depicting the far away mountains as hazy and gray, the valuable tool of atmospheric…