WMHT Specials
Discovering the Legacy of Thomas Cole
Clip: Special | 6mVideo has Closed Captions
Journey into the life & art of Hudson River School founder Thomas Cole.
In part two of Reframing an Empire, we delve into the life, times, and legacy of Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Known for his romantic landscape paintings, Cole's work remains some of the first of the American Landscape. Join us as we uncover the history and significance of his art, exploring the influences behind his work and the lasting impact of his legacy.
WMHT Specials is a local public television program presented by WMHT
Reframing An Empire is made possible by Albany Med Health System
WMHT Specials
Discovering the Legacy of Thomas Cole
Clip: Special | 6mVideo has Closed Captions
In part two of Reframing an Empire, we delve into the life, times, and legacy of Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Known for his romantic landscape paintings, Cole's work remains some of the first of the American Landscape. Join us as we uncover the history and significance of his art, exploring the influences behind his work and the lasting impact of his legacy.
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(ambient music) - We are sitting here in Thomas Cole's home and it is also the home of Mariah Cole and about 11 other people.
They all lived here in Catskill, New York where we have a view of the Catskill Mountains here off to my left, and the property used to go all the way to the Hudson River off here to my right.
(mellow music) - Thomas Cole's life is very interesting because he moved to the United States after having seen the Industrial Revolution in England and he had his concerns with him.
- Well, he comes here as a teenager, an older teenager, and he's leaving a very polluted industrial environment that he's growing up in an England that's filled with soot and dirt.
- And in 1825, when he went to New York for the first time and he saw the Catskills, he was so touched and was so moved by the beauty of this land that he created these paintings and really urged people to consider: What is being lost with by industry?
What is now being transformed through industry?
(ambient music) - Thomas Cole was a trailblazer.
I mean, he paved the way for dozens of artists who followed him.
History tells us that he created a few paintings, and he brought them to New York City, and they sold right away.
And it doesn't take long for other artists to notice that that's going on.
And there are some very talented artists around, and so this spawns interest, this is an incentive to create landscapes.
So Cole gets this American art form started.
- I think looking at Thomas Cole's collection is important, and it's important because this is one person in this whole landscape, and how they saw their environment, and also how they wanted other people to see it, right?
There's this romanticization of it; there's the religious element of the Second Great Awakening and God's gift, in particular to Americans and to New Yorkers here in this area; the wilderness and manhood, that's all part of it.
- Over the course of the paintings that we have of his, you can see an evolution.
That evolution is, it's there in his work.
That's why I was thinking that if he had lived longer, we really don't know where that would have gone.
He never got to a point where I feel he matured as an artist, and maybe that's also part of what was going on with his expressions that somehow seemed a bit naive about man's relationship with divinity.
Maybe time would've changed his thoughts about those things.
(gentle music) Cole inspired others.
And in the work of the artists that followed him, like Frederic Church, like Asher B. Durand, like Jasper Cropsey, Frederick Kensett, we don't see the same kind of pious storyline, this romantic story that has to do with human tragedy or human experience.
But we see the space, we see the environment.
A sunset, maybe, that we felt, or that we've been in that environment of that storm.
That's not a cold storm.
A cold storm is about the hand of God sweeping across the sky.
(ambient music) - Thomas Cole was an immigrant to this country.
He came from England when he was a teenager, and so he brings an immigrant experience, but he also brings the experience of one person.
And he was a white man from Europe.
I think what we're trying to also show here is that there are a lot of other people that were right here on the ground doing important work that have a different perspective, and that it was only through looking at the entire household, and all of the people working here, and Thomas Cole's sisters.
And when you look at the entire diverse population of who was working here, you get a picture of the diverse population that was creating America at that time.
(ambient music) - [Announcer] Sponsored in part by Albany Medical Health Center and by Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi.
(ambient music)
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Thomas Cole's art mirrors a nation in turmoil, showcasing America's diverse past. (7m)
Contemporary Artists Spotlight
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The Thomas Cole House looks in new directions with their show of contemporary practices. (7m 59s)
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Striving to understand humanity and the impact of slavery during the lifetime Thomas Cole. (6m 59s)
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Uncover the truth behind the 'untouched' American landscape. (6m 59s)
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Thomas Cole's art is a treasure, yet its untold stories are significant. (6m 59s)
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A fresh look at America's past, re-evaluating historic narratives in Reframing an Empire. (6m 21s)
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It's time that we recognize and remember the Mothers of the American Landscape movement. (6m 59s)
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Many Indigenous tribes had already been displaced before Thomas Cole's arrival in NY. (6m 59s)
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Learn why it's important to take into account a critical lens and students of our history. (6m 59s)
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Reframing An Empire is made possible by Albany Med Health System