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September 26, 2017Curator from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to Explore Thomas Cole’s Transatlantic Career
Interior of the Colosseum, Rome, Thomas Cole (1801-1848), c.1832, oil on canvas; 10″ x 18″, Albany Institute of History & Art Purchase, Evelyn Newman Fund, 1964.71
On Sunday, October 1 at 2pm, Elizabeth Kornhauser will give a special lecture on Thomas Cole’s Transatlantic Career at the Albany Institute of History & Art. Kornhauser is the Alice Pratt Brown Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This talk will focus on how the Met’s upcoming exhibition Thomas Cole’s Journey: Atlantic Crossings will establish Thomas Cole as a major artist of the nineteenth century within a global context. This lecture is open to the public and included with museum admission. It is supported in part by a grant from the Lamplighter Foundation.
While this celebrated artist is best known for his depictions of the American wilderness landscape, this talk will focus on how the exhibition will establish Cole as a major artist of the 19th century within a global context. The artist’s most iconic works, including The Course of Empire series and The Oxbow will be explored for the first time as a direct outcome of his transatlantic career. Consummate works by J. M. W. Turner and John Constable are included in the exhibition along with examples of paintings from Cole’s time in Italy, demonstrating his engagement with European art. Cole’s legacy as the founder of the Hudson River School will be re-examined within this global context.
The Met’s up-coming exhibition: Thomas Cole’s Journey: Atlantic Crossings, opens on January 30, 2018. The Albany Institute of History & Art will be lending several items to this exhibition, including Thomas Cole’s naturalization papers.
