: An exhibition, "The Course of Empire: Thomas Cole and the Hudson
River School Landscape Tradition," featuring selections from the
New-York Historical Society opens at the New York State Museum on
August 23.
This exhibition, in the museum's West Gallery through November
30, will showcase the depth and richness of the New-York
Historical Society's collection of paintings and works on paper
by renowned artists of the Hudson River School of landscape
painting. The Hudson River School was a loosely knit group of
artists living and working in New York during the middle decades
of the Nineteenth Century. The rise of landscape painting as the
preeminent American art form during this time emerged from a
growing taste for the beauty and grandeur of nature when the
nation was rapidly transforming itself into an industrial empire.
Cole, long considered the founder of the Hudson River School and
the father of Nineteenth Century American landscape painting,
takes center stage in this exhibition with his seminal
five-painting series, "The Course of Empire." Commissioned in
1833 by the pioneering American art collector Luman Reed, the
series was a culminating achievement in the artist's career,
embodying ideas and approaches to landscape that profoundly
influenced scores of other Hudson River School artists, many of
whom are featured in the exhibition.
The exhibition, sponsored by the New York State Museum Institute
and HSBC, features 40 paintings and 11 works on paper, including
engravings and lithographs. Artists represented include several
of Cole's devoted followers and friends, most notably Frederic
Edwin Church, Asher Brown Durand, Jasper Francis Cropsey, John
Frederick Kensett and Martin Johnson Heade.
The museum is planning several fall programs in conjunction with
"The Course of Empire" exhibition. On Saturday, September 20, a
discussion on the works in the exhibition will be led by the
curator, Lee Vedder, a Luce curatorial fellow at the New-York
Historical Society. This will be preceded by a lecture and slide
show on the Hudson River School at 1 pm.
Tours of the homes of Cole and Church are planned for Saturday,
October 5. The trip, which will leave the State Museum at 8:30
am, will take participants to Cedar Grove in the northern
Catskills, a National Register historic site, where Cole
established the foundation of the Hudson River School. The tour
will then go to Olana, the home of Church, who studied with Cole.
The trip is $60, including lunch in Hudson.
Reservations are required by October 4 and can be made by calling
Travels thru History at 518-372-0777. Free teachers' workshops on
the exhibition are planned for September and October. They are
for teachers of art, social studies or language arts, and include
an exclusive tour of "Course of Empire," a hands-on activity and
an education resource guide. For reservations or education
resource materials, 518-474-0080.
The New York State Museum is on Madison Avenue. For
information 518-474-5877 or .
