Permanent Interpretive Exhibition at the Home and Studio of Thomas Cole, Founder of the Hudson River School of Art

FAIN: BR-50027-07

Thomas Cole Historic House (Catskill, NY 12414-1027)
Elizabeth Bond Jacks (Project Director: January 2007 to August 2010)

Implementation of a permanent interpretation of Thomas Cole's studio, including a film, docent tours, a web site, multimedia stations, publications, and public and educational programs exploring how Cole worked and his contribution to American art.

The project will establish a new permanent exhibition at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, delivered through a range of elements ? an audiovisual presentation, interpretive panels, thematic displays of collection objects, interactive computer stations, printed educational materials, docent tours, and public programs ? that bring audiences new insights into America's cultural history through the seminal nineteenth-century artist Thomas Cole, who is considered the founder of the Hudson River School of art. The exhibition will focus on Cole's creative process, and will enable the visitor to experience it first hand, from hikes to the views in the nearby Catskill Mountains to a visit to the studio where the compositions came together. The exhibition will advance the public's knowledge of the origins of an art movement that dominated American visual arts between 1825 and 1875 -- a movement that formulated several of the underlying themes that still define America's cultural identity.