News Archive | Thomas Cole National Historic Site

January 2016

Thomas Cole as Architect Exhibit to Open at Artist’s NY Home

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, CATSKILL, N.Y. — Jan 22, 2016

The inaugural exhibit has been announced for a reconstructed building located at the upstate New York home of the founder of the Hudson River School of art.

Officials at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill say the exhibit will focus on the landscape artist’s little-known contributions to American architecture. Cole, who died in 1848, was one of the designers of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. Read entire article

September 2015

Over $600K Awarded to Thomas Cole Site for Interior Restoration
Artfix Daily

Periwinkle blue walls in the foyer, lavender walls in the West Parlor, a red and gold carpet with pyramids and birds-of-paradise, and hand-painted borders by Thomas Cole himself on the walls … . These are some of the elements of the original décor of the first-floor rooms of Cole’s 1815 home that will be restored as a result of two major federal grants that were recently awarded to the Thomas Cole Historic Site: $460,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities and $150,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Read entire article

July 2015

Thomas Cole’s Art Studio to Be Recreated
The New York Times
Eve M. Kahn

The 19th-century painter Thomas Cole built an art studio with gingerbread woodwork and Hudson River views in Catskill, N.Y., but he enjoyed it for only a year or so before his death in 1848. Some brick and wooden fragments survive from the building, which was torn down in the early 1970s, while his nearby house, known as Cedar Grove, has been preserved as the Thomas Cole National Historic Site. This summer, contractors are finishing a reproduction of Cole’s design on the studio’s original foundation, basing it on vintage photos, sketches and paintings. Read entire article

Funds secured to restore wall paintings by Thomas Cole
WNYT

19th century Landscape artist Thomas Cole made his home in Catskill. His homestead surrounded by the beauty of the mountain range that was the subject of much of his art. But nobody knew that inside the home, Cole surrounded himself with art as well. At least, until they were trying to figure out the original color of the parlor. Watch video

Restorer unearths historic paintings hidden in home of American master
The Washington Post
Sarah Kaplan

It was supposed to be just a quick paint job, a few days at most. But when refurbisher Matthew Mosca began chipping away at decades of old paint coating the walls in the historic home of artist Thomas Cole, he was startled to discover a tangle of delicate designs buried beneath. “You’re not going to believe this, but there’s actually hand-painted drapery and thorns on the wall here,” Read entire article

Unknown Thomas Cole Paintings Found at His Home
The New York Times
Nate Schweber

CATSKILL, N.Y. — Late last year, Matthew J. Mosca, a specialist in historic paint finishes, gazed up at what looked like a scrap of wallpaper. It was jutting up from an old coat of red paint covering the walls of a pantry inside the yellow-brick farmhouse where the 19th-century artist Thomas Cole displayed paintings that revolutionized American ideas about art and wilderness. But when Mr. Mosca climbed a ladder, he found it was not wallpaper, but a bold black decorative pattern Read entire article

Landscape Painting Discovered on Wall in Former Thomas Cole Home

WNYT / WNYT Staff

CATSKILL, N.Y. – There’s a new historic discovery in Greene County. Imagine chipping away at paint prepping to throw a new coat on, and discovering a priceless work of art. That’s what happened at the old residence of Thomas Cole. Now, Senator Chuck Schumer is asking for about $600,000 from The National Endowment for the Humanities to get the rest of that painting uncovered and restored. Watch video

Also read: Thomas Cole and the Decorative Arts

VQR / Jean Dunbar

May – June 2015

‘River Crossings’ a Contemporary Art Exhibition at 2 Historic Sites of the Hudson River School
The New York Times
Daniel Van Benthuysen

WHEN warm weather arrives, artists by the hundreds, including me, venture outside with paint boxes and portable easels…. Read entire article

Olana, Thomas Cole site team up for an artsy house party
The Albany Times Union
Amy Biancolli

When Thomas Cole and Frederic Church open their homes to a contemporary art exhibit on Sunday, the hosts will be nowhere to be seen. They did, after all, die in 1848 and 1900. But they’ll still be chatting up a storm… Read entire article

Additional Exhibition Coverage for “River Crossings”:

2014

Exhibition coverage for Master, Mentor, Master: Thomas Cole & Frederic Church

The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/nyregion/an-exhibition-on-frederic-edwin-church-and-thomas-cole-in-catskill-ny.html?_r=0

Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/articles/art-review-master-mentor-master-thomas-cole-frederic-church-1402347440#printMode

Artfix: http://www.artfixdaily.com/calendar/print/7129-thomas-cole-and-frederic-church-master-mentor-master

The Daily Mail: http://www.thedailymail.net/news/article_ec71a1a4-e239-11e3-9aa2-001a4bcf887a.html

The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/08/nyregion/events-in-westchester-for-june-8-14-2014.html?_r=0

iloveny: http://www.iloveny.com/thebeat/post/2014/2/Master-Mentor-Master-Thomas-Cole-Frederic-Church-Exhibition-Now-on-View/7748/#.U-OAo_ldVqU

Hudson Valley Magazine: http://www.hvmag.com/Hudson-Valley-Magazine/Calendar/index.php/name/Thomas-Cole-Historic-Site-presents-Thomas-Cole-Frederic-Church-Master-Mentor-Master/event/12154/

WAMC: http://wamc.org/post/master-mentor-master-thomas-cole-frederic-church-thomas-cole-historic-site

About Town: http://www.abouttown.us/index.php/events-calendar/details/5134-Master-Mentor-MasterThomas-Cole–Frederic-Church

Hudson Valley Mercantile: http://www.hvmercantile.com/tag/master-mentor-master/

Almanac: http://www.hudsonvalleyalmanacweekly.com/2014/05/16/colechurch-exhibit-opens-this-sunday-with-lecture-in-hudson-reception-in-catskill/

Chronogram: https://twitter.com/Chronogram/status/456443471490863105

http://www.chronog ram.com/hudsonvalley/thomas-cole-and-frederic-church-master-mentor-master/Content?oid=2238891

http://www.zvents.com/catskill_ny/events/show/369643183-thomas-cole-frederic-church-master-mentor-master

http://www.greatnortherncatskills.com/arts-culture/thomas-cole-national-historic-site

http://www.artmuseumtouring.com/Thomas-Cole.html

http://hrs-art.com/2014/02/thomas-cole-frederic-church-exhibition/

http://newyorkhistoryblog.org/2014/05/12/master-mentor-master-thomas-cole-and-frederic-church/

http://www.cocotodo.com/event/12686

http://www.veooz.com/photos/wH8mMJB.html

http://rye.dailyvoice.com/events/classes-lectures/783908/thomas-cole-frederic-church-master-mentor-master

http://www.afanews.com/home/item/2602-%E2%80%98master-mentor-master%E2%80%99-examines-teacher-student-relationship-between-thomas-cole-and-frederic-church

June 2013

Albert Bierstadt’s Paintings Now at Thomas Cole Site
Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine
Annette Blaugrund

Albert Bierstadt! The name immediately conjures up monumental vistas of America’s Far West. Even in his 1902 obituary, the only hint that this artist ever worked in the East was the title of one painting, On the Saco, New Hampshire. Today, as in 1902, Bierstadt is best remembered for his dramatic and atmospheric paintings of the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, Yosemite, California, Wyoming, and Colorado. The focus of this article, however, is on Bierstadt’s lesser-known landscape paintings of New York and New England… Read entire article

April 2013

Hudson River Schooling
The Wall Street Journal
Ralph Gardner Jr.

My summer plans are set: I’m going to follow the Hudson River School Art Trail. Actually, it’s not quite as ambitious an undertaking as it might sound, such as traversing the full length of the Appalachian Trail which runs between Georgia and Maine. I suspect I can do it in an afternoon or two… Read entire article

April 2010

People Are Talking About…
VOGUE Magazine
Jenna Lundin

Writings about New York’s celebrated Hudson River School—the nineteenth-century pioneers of American landscape painting that reached its heyday in the mid 1800’s—rarely mention the female contingent that painted alongside such famous male practitioners as Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, and Frederic Church. Now, for the first time, an exhibition opening Sunday at the Thomas Cole historic site in Catskill, New York, will focus exclusively on the women of the movement… Read entire article

April 2010

Women Artists of the Hudson River School
Antiques & Fine Art Magazine
Jennifer Krieger

The achievements of these women—who broke the bounds of imposed gender restrictions to carve out lives of accomplishment, adventure and independence—appear all the more extraordinary when one considers the historical and social context within which they took place… Read entire article

October 2009

Taking in the Views That Led to Great Art
The New York Times
Benjamin Genocchio

A hiker can follow the Hudson River School Art Trail and wind up at the sites that inspired some of America’s important early works… Read entire article

June 1, 2009

River Views of the Hudson River School
American Art Review
Elizabeth B. Jacks

Only ten years ago, Thomas Cole’s home stood in ruins. The graceful Federal style 1815 Main House was shedding roof shingles with each gust of wind, and a pool of water filled the basement after pipes had frozen and burst. … Read entire article

July 26, 2006

A Natural Canvas
The Boston Globe
Patricia Harris and David Lyon

CATSKILL, N.Y. In the typical Hudson River School painting, masses of cumulus clouds rise above an outsize vista of river and mountains. We always figured that those scenes were embellished by artistic license until we visited the painters’ haunts where the northern Catskill Mountains meet the Hudson River Valley.

As we crossed the Hudson on the high bridge at Castleton, the scenery was in our faces. We looked downriver past Rattlesnake and Coxsackie islands, and saw heaps of…Read entire article… (1303 words)

June 19, 2005

The Hudson River School
The New York Times
Susan Catto

We want to see some of the sights that the Hudson River School painted, if any of those places still exist. Can you suggest an itinerary, book or pamphlet that would guide us? Read entire article…

January 21, 2005

Found underground
Daily Freeman
Bonnie Langston, Freeman staff

The next Sunday salon at the Catskill home of Thomas Cole, founder of the famed 19th-century Hudson River School of painting, will be led by a man who learned of the artist a relatively short time ago and in a rather unusual venue – a New York City subway stop. Read entire article…

September 19, 2004

Restored studio paints a life
Times Union
Timothy Cahill

“Do you know that I have got a new painting-room?” wrote Thomas Cole to fellow painter Asher B. Durand near the end of 1839. “It answers pretty well … and being removed from the noise and bustle of the house, is really charming.” Read entire article…

September 12, 2004

Inside the artist’s studio: Cole’s work space being restored
Daily Freeman
Jonathan Ment, Freeman staff

An old barn behind the Thomas Cole house on Spring Street in Catskill has been an antiques shop, an apartment house and, yes, a residence for animals. Read entire article…

August 15, 2004

An American Virtuoso of Urgent visions
Times Union
Timothy Cahill, Staff writer

“To walk with nature as a poet,” wrote Thomas Cole, “is the necessary condition of a perfect artist.” Read entire article…

March 6, 2004

Cole’s 19th-century art studio getting a facelift
Daily Freeman
Fred Johnsen, Freeman staff

Thomas Edison had Menlo Park, Theodore Roosevelt had Sagamore Hill, and within these places were “inner sanctums.” For Edison his laboratory, for Roosevelt his trophy room. Read entire article…