Thomas Cole (1801-1848)
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Thomas Cole (1801-1848)
Slavik Melnik
11/20/2005
Thomas Cole was born in 1801 in Lancashire, England, and was trained as an engraver of woodblocks used for printing calico. Because he did not have any formal education in art, his aesthetic ideas derived form poetry and literature, influences that were strongly to mark his paintings. The Cole family immigrated to America in 1818, but Thomas spent a year alone in Philadelphia before going on to Steubenville, Ohio, where his family had settled.
He spent several years in Steubenville designing patterns and probably also engraving woodblocks fort his fathers wallpaper manufactory. He made his first attempts at landscape paintings after learning the essentials of oil painting from a nebulous itinerant portraitist named Stein. In 1823, Cole followed his family to Pittsburgh and began to make detailed paintings of the places beautiful landscapes. During another stay in Philadelphia, from 1823 to 1824, Cole was determined to become a painter and closely studied the landscapes of other artists. His technique improved greatly and his thinking on the special qualities of American scenery began to crystallize.
However Cole was not only a painter, but he also was a prolific poet, writer, and a theorist. He kept many journals and wrote poetry and essays. Although his only student was the painter Frederic Church, Cole had an influential role in the New York art community, and fostered the careers of many Hudson River School artists. He expressed many points and ideas in his paintings. Thomas Cole is often called the “Father of the Hudson River School of Art.” In 1826 he helped to found the National Academy of Design in New York City.
Cole criticized the march of modern society, accusing people of losing their regard for “simplicity and beauty.” In his