Planning an Interpretive Exhibition Probing the Creative Process of Thomas Cole, Founder of the Hudson River School of Art

FAIN: BP-50025-06

Thomas Cole Historic House (Catskill, NY 12414-1027)
Elizabeth Bond Jacks (Project Director: September 2005 to March 2008)

Planning for a site-wide interpretation of painter Thomas Cole's house and studio with emphasis on his art-making.

The Thomas Cole Site is planning a new permanent exhibition encompassing an audiovisual presentation, interpretive panels, collection objects, printed materials, docent tours, and related public programs – that bring new insights into America's cultural history through the nineteenth-century artist Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School of art. The exhibition will specifically address Cole’s art-making process that began with sketching in the nearby Catskill Mountains and that was completed in his studio, and the significant role his appreciation and interpretation of the American landscape had in shaping an emerging national identity.