Circles of Influence
Thomas Cole and the American Landscape Movement
JUNE 20–DECEMBER, 2026
In the Main House
FREE PUBLIC OPENING
Sat, Jun 20 | 4–6 pm
Exhibition access is included with General Admission tickets.
OVERVIEW
Circles of Influence will explore the rapid influence that Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and his work had on other 19th-century artists, and the role that they collectively played in extending the concept of “America the Beautiful,” still vibrant today. The exhibition brings together the work of Thomas Cole with artists he was in direct contact with, including Frederic Edwin Church, Jasper Francis Cropsey, and Asher B. Durand; artist-members of the Cole family, including Sarah Cole and Mary B. Cole; and later painters who were shaped by his legacy and considered part of the artistic movement Cole founded, such as Ralph Albert Blakelock, Albert Bierstadt, Susie M. Barstow, John Frederick Kensett, Mary Josephine Walters, and Worthington Whittredge.
The exhibition will be presented in the historic Library Gallery designed by Thomas Cole in the 1815 Main House where he lived from 1836 until his death in 1848. The gallery features an original decorative wall painting by Cole.
Thomas Cole, Catskill Mountain House, 1846, oil on canvas, 15 x 23¼ in. Warner Foundation Collection
SPOTLIGHT EXHIBITION OBJECTS – Selection
Thomas Cole, Catskill Mountain House, 1846, oil on canvas, 15 × 23¼ in. Warner Foundation Collection
Jasper Cropsey (1823-1900), Autumn on the River, 1877, oil on canvas, 21 x 17 in. Collection of Susan Austin Warner
Susie M. Barstow (1836-1923), Untitled, 1868, oil on canvas, 6¾ x 9¾ in., Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Catskill, NY, Gift of Raymond Beecher, TC.2012.2
Thomas Cole, Distant View of Boston, c. 1838-39, oil on canvas, 8 5/8 x 11 7/8 in. Collection of J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox
Thomas Cole: Painting the Nature of America at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site is supported by The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
Made possible in part by Hickory Foundation; With public funds from the Greene County Legislature through the Greene County Cultural Fund, administered in Greene County by CREATE Council on the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; Jennifer Krieger and Eric Siegel; National Trust Insurance, LLC; Art Bridges; Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area; The Tryon Family Foundation; Anne and Fred Osborn III / The EASTER Foundation; Bank of Greene County Charitable Fund; Columbia Memorial Health; BST & Co. CPAs, LLP; and Eli Wilner & Company.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.