Painting the Nature of America

FAIN: ZZ-309448-25

Thomas Cole Historic House (Catskill, NY 12414-1027)
Maura O'Shea (Project Director: June 2025 to present)

An exhibition at the Thomas Cole Historic House, Catskill, New York, of the heroic landscapes of Thomas Cole and related painters that became iconic expressions of the nation’s identity as America the beautiful.

The Thomas Cole National Historic Site is requesting a Celebrate America! Grant of $25,000 to support the semiquincentennial initiative, “Painting the Nature of America,” in honor of the founding of the county. This American history and art humanities public project will be presented throughout 2026 at the TCNHS, the home of American landscape painting, where the artist Thomas Cole lived and worked in Catskill, New York. "Painting the Nature of America” will include three temporary exhibits with community programs presenting historic and contemporary American art and related programming that celebrates the stunning natural landscape of the United States. The project will explore the enduring influence of Thomas Cole’s American landscape paintings, which gave rise to the newly independent country's identity of America the beautiful. As we mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, Cole’s vision of this place in all its natural beauty continues to inspire and engage generations today.