Thomas Cole and his Catskill Canvases and Drawings

Thomas Cole - Study for Catskill Creek, c. 1844-1845
oil on wood

And so, from Carl Jonas Linnerhielm, I arrived at Thomas Cole. Both of them traveled in their young years, Linnerhielm in Lapland and Cole in the Catskills. Both of them left wonderful depictions of what they had seen. And from Thomas Cole, I promise to give you also the image of a masterpiece created by his disciple: the masterpiece is Niagara and the disciple is Frederic Edwin Church.

Thomas Cole - Sunrise in the Catskills, 1826
oil on canvas

Thomas Cole - The Bridge of Fear, unknown date
graphite and black crayon with gray wash on wove paper

Thomas Cole - The Cross in the Wilderness, c. 1844
graphite with gray-green, green-brown, and white chalk on gray paper

Thomas Cole - The Oxbow, 1846

(Washington DC National Gallery of Art)

Thomas Cole: Crawford Notch

Thomas Cole
A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountains
(Crawford Notch), 1839
oil on canvas

(Click on the image to have a better view).

The canvas is on view at Washington National Gallery. Here's how the Gallery catalog comments it:

Crawford Notch gained notoriety in 1826 when a catastrophic avalanche took nine lives. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a short story commemorating the tragedy, which may have piqued Cole's interest in the New Hampshire site. Rather than concentrating on the human drama, the artist minimized figurative elements to underscore man's insignificance and vulnerability in the face of nature's unleashed fury. Amid a seemingly idyllic autumnal setting, the barely discernible settlers, a lone rider, and the stagecoach passengers all seem oblivious to the impending cataclysm. Only the brooding storm clouds gathering at the upper left offer a portentous hint of the disaster to come.

In addition to its oblique reference to a specific historical event, Crawford Notch also reflects a prevailing romantic belief: that the destruction of America's virgin forests was tantamount to sacrilege. By juxtaposing gnarled trees with freshly hewn stumps, Cole vividly underscored the environmental consequences of man's conquest of the wilderness.

By the way, the first photographer of the American landscape, Samuel Bemis, has the grave in those places.

(Washington DC National Gallery of Art)

Thomas Cole: The Voyage of Life

The Voyage of Life - Childhood, 1842
oil on canvas

The post that Dan made on Carl Jonas Linnerhielm, the Swedish traveler, painter and writer from the second half of the XVIII-th century called me in mind an American traveler, painter and writer, who lived in the first half of the XIX-th century. His name was Thomas Cole.

But firstly (as Dan wrote his post in Romanian) here are some words about Linnerhielm: he’s been called the first Swedish tourist; with his pencil, watercolour brushes, sketchbooks – and a predilection for the picturesque – he captured the Sweden of Gustav III, from Skåne in the south to Älvdalen in Dalarna (Nationalmuseum).

The Voyage of Life - Youth, 1842
oil on canvas

Linnerhielm made his travels in Lapland, Cole went up the Hudson Valley on the Catskills and painted great landscapes.

But I will talk about his landscapes in a future post, as it is much to say about Thomas Cole. He founded the Hudson River School and was considered the most important American painter of the first half of the XIX-th century.

The Voyage of Life - Manhood, 1842
oil on canvas

Here I want to talk about a famous series of four allegorical paintings created by Thomas Cole: The Voyage of Life. I see them every time I'm going to Washington National Gallery.

It is the journey of an archetypal man through his life. Innocent in the childhood, enthusiast and over-confident in the youth, advancing by trail and error as years are passing, up to the old age, when only belief in God can give him the sense of what he lived: Cole was a deeply religious man, he also believed in the moral task of the art and this series of paintings speak with genuine force about his profound convictions.

The Voyage of Life - Old Age, 1842
oil on canvas

Here is what the Washington National Gallery catalog says about The Voyage of Life:

Confidently assuming control of his destiny and oblivious to the dangers that await him, the voyager boldly strives to reach an aerial castle, emblematic of the daydreams of youth and its aspirations for glory and fame. As the traveler approaches his goal, the ever-more-turbulent stream deviates from its course and relentlessly carries him toward the next picture in the series, where nature's fury, evil demons, and self-doubt will threaten his very existence. Only prayer, Cole suggests, can save the voyager from a dark and tragic fate.

(Washington DC National Gallery of Art)