Thomas Cole : landscape into history. 1994, xii, 186 p., ill. (some col.); 1 diagram; bibliogr. ref.; index; biog. sum.
ISBN
0-300-05850-0
Publisher
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (usa)
Publication country
United States
Abstract
(en)
Catalogue for an exhibition of Cole's paintings. Consists mainly of four essays. In "Cole's America," Christine Stansell and Sean Wilentz argue the history paintings in particular represent Cole's imaginative struggle with complex social, political and cultural issues--the rise of Jacksonian democracy, economic expansion and the early phases of industrialization. In "Thomas Cole: landscape and the course of American empire," Alan Wallach considers Cole's beginnings as a landscapist in the United States, the background and interests of the artist's patrons, and the relationship between his landscapes and allegories. In "The advantages of genius and virtue: Thomas Cole's influence, 1848-58," J. Gray Sweeney points out that contemporary artists continued to imitate Cole's allegorical works until ca.1855, after which this type of painting rapidly went out of fashion. Later commentators and scholars tended to isolate Cole's work from its historical surroundings, judging him a landscape painter of considerable talent who too often neglected nature for historical landscapes and secular and religious allegories. In "Nature and the native tradition: the problem of two Thomas Coles," William H. Truettner addresses the ramifications of this perceived split in Cole's career and traces its impact upon Cole scholarship from the 1930s to 1990. Checklist of works exhibited.
Exhibition
11 Sept-4 Dec 1994 ; Wadsworth Atheneum ; Hartford (CT, USA) ; United States
18 Mar-7 Aug 1994 ; Smithsonian American Art Museum ; Washington, DC (USA) ; United States
8 Jan-25 Mar 1995 ; New-York Historical Society ; New York (NY, USA) ; United States
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