Wild Land, Thomas Cole, and the Birth of American Landscape Painting
“Nature has spread for us a rich and delightful banquet. Shall we turn from it?” – Thomas Cole
Wild Land takes visitors “into the woods” and through Cole’s studio, revealing the ways in which he, and other artists of his time, pioneered cultural conversations that shaped our national landscape—intellectually, physically, and visually. Thomas Cole was not only an iconic 19th-century artist but a conservational visionary whose ideas on the natural world heralded the sense of American identity that we know today.
In November 1825, three large oil paintings by a relatively unknown artist appeared in a New York City gallery window. The three works, featuring dramatic landscapes from locations in upstate New York, immediately attracted critical acclaim. “This youth has done at once, and without instruction, what I can not do after fifty years of practice,” exclaimed one prominent American artist.
The creator of those three works was a young English immigrant named Thomas Cole. Over the course of the next two decades, Cole revolutionized the field of American landscape painting. He gave rise to a style of painting that later become known as the Hudson River School. In the process, the young self-taught artist helped Americans rethink their relationship with the natural world around them. He revealed connections between that landscape and America’s national identity.
Wild Land explores the story of Thomas Cole’s role as an artistic and cultural pioneer who helped give rise to the emerging concept of the American nation. How did this young Englishman see something in the American wilderness that many Americans themselves did not yet see? Using a combination of large-scale banner graphics, immersive environments, media features, and other interactive strategies, Wild Land takes audiences on a journey with Cole through the story of his creative process. From an itinerant portrait artist to the founder of the Hudson River School, how did this landscape artist transform sketches from nature into a new vision of the wilderness?
Visitors will examine how the meaning of nature has changed over time into a source for creative and intellectual inspiration. And just as Thomas Cole did, visitors will explore the concept of preservation and how societies come to value and live in balance with natural resources. In concluding the exhibit, visitors are left to contemplate whether Cole’s premature death may have signified a beginning of an American artistic legacy and an identity as a nation inextricably tied to nature.
Availability
Wild Land is touring September 2011 through August 2016. It is fully booked.
SEPTEMBER 2011–AUGUST 2016
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September 1–October 20, 2011
Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History
Bryan, TX booked -
November 10, 2011–January 7, 2012
Stedman Art Gallery, Rutgers University
Camden, NJ booked -
January 28–March 16, 2012
Fellows Riverside Garden
Youngstown, OH booked -
April 6–May 25, 2012
Gorman Conservation Discovery Center
Kansas City, MO booked -
June 16–August 11, 2012
Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery
Keene, NH booked -
September 1–October 20, 2012
Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
St. Bonaventure, NY booked -
November 10, 2012–January 7, 2013
Sonoma County Museum
Santa Rosa, CA booked -
January 28–March 16, 2013
Brigham City Museum
Brigham City, UT booked -
April 6–May 25, 2013
Arnot Art Museum
Elmira, NY booked -
June 16–August 11, 2013
Ravalli County Museum
Hamilton, MT booked -
September 1–October 20, 2013
Decatur Public Library
Decatur, IL booked -
November 10, 2013–January 7, 2014
Clymer Gallery
Ellensburg, WA booked -
January 28–March 16, 2014
Refurbishment
Kansas City, MO booked -
April 6–May 25, 2014
Rolling Hills Consolidated Library
St. Joseph, MO booked -
June 16–October 20, 2014
Park City Museum
Park City, UT booked -
November 10, 2014–January 7, 2015
West Baton Rouge Museum
Port Allen, LA booked -
January 28–March 16, 2015
Provo City Library at Academy Square
Provo, UT booked -
April 6–May 25, 2015
Brown County Historical Society
Hiawatha, KS booked -
June 16–August 11, 2015
The Parthenon
Nashville, TN booked -
September 1–October 20, 2015
Wayland Baptist University
Plainview, TX booked -
November 10, 2015–January 7, 2016
Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council, Inc.
Texarkana, TX booked -
January 28–March 16, 2016
California State University, Dominguez Hills
Carson, CA booked -
April 6–May 25, 2016
Ypsilanti District Library
Ypsilanti, MI booked -
June 16–August 11, 2016
St. George Art Museum
St. George, UT booked
Exhibition Details & Specifications
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Curated By
Elizabeth Jacks, Executive Director, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, with Essayist: Dr. Kevin J. Avery, Department of American Paintings, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Organized By
The Thomas Cole National Historic Site / Cedar Grove, Catskill, New York. -
Content
This exhibition includes 10 freestanding display units, with one flashvideo monitor and in-gallery web components. These include a partial reproduction of painting equipment from Thomas Cole’s old studio. Objects in the exhibition include nineteenth-century painting materials and natural history specimens, early American literature and related nineteenth-century books by authors such as James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, and William Cullen Bryant, other early philosophical and art treatises, materials related to the term Hudson River School, nineteenth-century prints and “scenic” publications (including works by Thomas Cole), transportation artifacts, early tourism materials and items related to the Catskills and the Catskill Mountain House, and artifacts tracing the origins of the American conservation movement. Please note: this is a Limited Security exhibition. While it includes prints and early books featuring Cole works, it does not include original paintings and sketches. These images appear as large-scale banner reproductions.
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Duration
7 Weeks
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Rental Fee
$1000
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Support
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Shipping:
The maximum out of pocket shipping expense is $1,000. Exhibitor will coordinate with the M-AAA registrar for all outgoing transportation arrangements.
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Security
Limited
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Square Feet
1,600
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Number of Crates/Total Weight
11 crates/3365 pounds
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Insurance
The exhibition is fully insured by M-AAA at no additional expense to you, both while installed and during transit.