Thomas Cole: An American Visionary

 

April 25 through December 2026

Thomas Cole National Historic Site(218 Spring St, Catskill, NY 12414)

 

Thomas Cole,  Autumn Landscape (View of Mount Chocorua), 1827, oil on canvas, 38 x 48 in. Warner Foundation Collection

 

Thomas Cole: An American Visionary is the inaugural exhibition in the new Richard Sharp Gallery. It presents a dynamic installation of landscape paintings, painting objects, and an easel of Thomas Cole (1801–1848) that explores his evolution into an artist of international renown whose paintings conveyed a visual identity for a young nation and continue to inspire artists to this day. The exhibition features an iconic Cole painting newly gifted to the collection by Richard T. Sharp.

 

The exhibition illuminates Cole’s beginnings as an artist, his creative process and inspirations, his deep connection to the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson Valley, his development as an international artist, and his role as teacher and mentor to Frederic Church (1826–1900), the 200th anniversary of whose birth is being celebrated this year. The exhibition includes 16 paintings by Thomas Cole and one by Frederic Church, painted while a student of Cole, in addition to drawings and sketches, painting objects, easels, and sources of inspiration. The exhibition is part of the broader 2026 initiative Thomas Cole: Painting the Nature of America, celebrating the anniversary of America at the home of American landscape. Scholars Alan Wallach and Nancy Siegel serve as advisors to the project. 

 

 

Thomas Cole, Diagram of Contrasts, 1834, oil on canvas, 23½ x 35 in., Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Gift of Richard T. Sharp, TC.2025.5

 

The Richard Sharp Gallery was made possible by a generous donation from Richard T. Sharp to engage and inspire new generations. Sharp is a longtime supporter of the Thomas Cole Site and has gifted to the collection the largest amount of artwork by, and objects related to, Thomas Cole from a private individual outside of the artist’s family. The gallery is designed by Architectural Digest 100 Stephen Shadley.

 

To commemorate the opening of the Richard Sharp Gallery and inaugural exhibition, Rick Sharp has donated the iconic Thomas Cole painting Diagram of Contrasts to the permanent collection of the Thomas Cole Site.

 

 

“The inaugural exhibition at the institution’s new Richard Sharp Gallery presents paintings, drawings and working materials of the great American artist, who in the 19th century was instrumental in crafting the celebrated image of the nation.”—The Wall Street Journal

 

“An homage to the source of the Hudson River School and to the ongoing and often esoteric allure of its legacy.”—Upstate Diary

 

“All of this, in his own house, makes Cole’s life more tactile, believable, and ever present.”—Albany Times Union

 

“A selection of Cole’s scenic paintings and studio supplies unpacks the artist’s devotion to the beauty of the American wilderness in contrast with the stronghold grip of industrialization”—Hyperallergic

 

“Features an iconic Thomas Cole painting recently gifted by Richard Sharp”—Art Daily

https://thomascole.org  

 

*허드슨강 학파(Hudson River School) 풍경화는 왜 중요한가? Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School 

*토마스 콜의 여정: 대서양 횡단@메트로폴리탄뮤지엄, 2018

*뉴욕역사협회 소장 허드슨강 학파 '자연의 시정'@알렌타운미술관(PA), 2017 

*미 풍경화의 아버지 조지 이네스@몽클레어미술관, NJ