Current Exhibitions & Events
SHI GUORUI
Ab/Sense-Pre/Sense
Sept 22-Dec 15, 2019
An exhibition debuting giant camera obscura landscape photographs by the internationally-acclaimed contemporary artist Shi Guorui. The exhibition is part of the annual series OPEN HOUSE: Contemporary Art in Conversation with Cole.
A Holiday Gathering
Sat, Dec 14, 5 PM
Enjoy festive cocktails and bountiful hors d’oeuvres in Thomas Cole’s New Studio and a guided lantern tour of the historic Main House followed by a private dinner party at a nearby Hudson Valley home.
Cole Fellowship Applications
Now accepting applications through February 10, 2020 for the Cole Fellows class of 2020-2021. The fellowship is a one-year residential research and professional development program.
Hudson River Skywalk
See America’s first canvas with a new scenic walkway connecting the Thomas Cole Site with Frederic Church’s Olana across the Hudson River.
Past Exhibitions
Thomas Cole’s Refrain:
The Paintings of Catskill Creek
Curator: H. Daniel Peck, John Guy Vassar, Jr., Professor Emeritus of English, Vassar College
May 4-Nov 3, 2019
A new exhibition illuminating Cole’s Catskill Creek paintings, considered for the first time as an integral series.
The Art of Emily Cole
Curator: Amanda Malmstrom, 2019 Cole Fellow
March 2- Aug 11, 2019
The first solo exhibition of Emily Cole’s artwork on both paper and porcelain, revealing her exquisitely painted botanicals. Emily Cole was Thomas Cole’s daughter and the only one of his children to
become an artist.
Emily Cole, Untitled (detail), n.d., watercolor and pencil on paper, 7 5/16? x 10 5/16?.
Landmark
Curators: Kate Menconeri and Kathy Greenwood, Director, Art & Culture Program, Albany International Airport
Sep 29-Feb 25, 2019
The Thomas Cole Site and the Albany International Airport present a new multidisciplinary exhibition that features 10 contemporary visual artists and 7 writers whose works explore our relationship to the natural world, and share common ground with Thomas Cole’s greatest written work, Essay on American Scenery. The gallery is open daily from 7 am to 11 pm.
Lisa Sanditz, Fumigation Tents, 2016, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 54 x 70”, photograph courtesy the artist
SPECTRUM
Curator: Kate Menconeri, Thomas Cole Site Curator
Aug 14 – Nov 18, 2018
A contemporary art exhibition installed throughout the historic site as part of the ongoing series OPEN HOUSE: Contemporary Art in Conversation with Cole. The exhibition grew out of conversations between the Cole Site curator Kate Menconeri, the artist Kiki Smith, and exhibiting artists.
Painting: Place (Place), 2017, Jackie Saccoccio. Oil and mica on Linen, 79 x 90 in. Courtesy of the artist and Van Doren Waxter,
Picturesque and Sublime: Thomas Cole’s Trans-Atlantic Inheritance
Curators: Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor in the History of Art at Yale, Jennifer Raab, Associate Professor in the History of Art at Yale, Sophie Lynford, Ph.D. candidate at Yale and Nicholas Robbins, Ph.D. candidate at Yale
May 1 – Nov 4, 2018
Photo © Peter Aaron/OTTO
KIKI SMITH / “From the Creek”
Curator: Kate Menconeri, Thomas Cole Site Curator
Aug 12 – Nov 19, 2017
“Sanford R. Gifford in the Catskills”
Curator: Kevin J. Avery, Ph.D., Senior Research Scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Apr 30 – Oct 29, 2017
Photo © Peter Aaron/OTTO
“Thomas Cole: The Artist as Architect”
Curator: Annette Blaugrund, Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Author and Curator, and former Director of the National Academy Museum & School of Fine Arts
May 1 – Oct 30, 2016
JASON MIDDLEBROOK: “Nature Builds / We Cover”
Curator: Kate Menconeri, Thomas Cole Site Curator
Aug 14 – Oct 30, 2016
“River Crossings: Contemporary Art Comes Home”
Curators: Stephen Hannock, Contemporary Artist and Jason Rosenfeld, Ph.D., Distinguished Chair and Professor of Art History at Marymount Manhattan College and Senior Writer and Editor-at-Large for the Brooklyn Rail
May 3-Nov 1, 2015
Photo © Peter Aaron/OTTO
Stanley Maltzman / “Thomas Cole’s Honey”
Curator: Kate Menconeri, Thomas Cole Site Curator
July 26- Oct 2, 2014
“Master, Mentor, master – Thomas Cole & Frederic Church”
Curators: John Wilmerding, Ph.D., Sarofim Professor of American Art, Emeritus, at Princeton University and former Senior Curator and Deputy Director of the National Gallery of Art
Apr 30 – Nov 2, 2014
“Albert Bierstadt in New York and New England”
Curator: Annette Blaugrund, Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Author and Curator, and former Director of the National Academy Museum & School of Fine Arts
May 1 – Nov 3, 2013
“Worlds Between: Landscapes of Louis Rémy Mignot”
Curator: Katherine E. Manthorne, Ph.D., Professor of American and Latin American Art at the CUNY Graduate Center, and former Research Center Head at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Apr 29 – Oct 28, 2012
Robert S. Duncanson “the spiritual striving of the freedman’s sons”
Curator: Joseph D. Ketner II, the Henry and Lois Foster Chair in Contemporary Art Theory and Practice at Emerson College, Boston
May 1 – October 30, 2011
“Remember the Ladies”
Curators: Nancy Siegel, Ph.D., Professor of Art History at Towson University and Jennifer Krieger, Managing Partner of Hawthorne Fine Art and Academic Scholar
May 2- Oct 31, 2010
“River Views of the Hudson River School”
Curator: Nancy Siegal, Ph.D., Professor of Art History at Towson University
May 2- Oct 31, 2009
“Thomas Cole’s Sketch Paintings: An Exploration of the Creative Process”
Curator: Elizabeth B. Jacks, Thomas Cole Site Executive Director
May 3 – Oct 26, 2008
“Asher B. Durand: Intimate Observations”
Curator: Lee Vedder, Ph.D., Independent Curator and former Henry Luce Curatorial Fellow in American Art at the New York Historical Society
May 20 – Oct 28, 2007
“Jasper Cropsey: Interpreting Nature”
Curator: Elizabeth Stevens, former Thomas Cole Site Curator
May 7 – Oct 29, 2006
“George Inness: Paintings”
Curator: Elizabeth Stevens, former Thomas Cole Site Curator
May 1 – Oct 30, 2005
The Program Endowment that supports educational programs at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this the programs do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
