Research Catalog

Title

Thomas Cole's refrain : the paintings of Catskill Creek / H. Daniel Peck.

Author

Peck, H. Daniel

Publication

• Ithaca, New York : Three Hills, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2019.
• ©2019

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Thomas Cole National Historic Site, host institution.
• Hudson River Museum, host institution.

Description

xii, 186 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), color maps; 26 cm

Summary

• "Shows how Thomas Cole's neglected Catskill Creek paintings cohere as a series and express the artist's deep attachment to place and region"--
• "Thomas Cole, an internationally renowned artist, centered his art and life in Catskill, New York. From his vantage point near the village, he cast his eyes on the wonders of the Catskill Mountains and the swiftly flowing Catskill Creek. These landscapes were sources of enduring inspiration for him. Over twenty years, Cole painted one view of the Catskill Mountains at least ten times. Each work represents the mountains from the perspective of a wide river bend near Catskill, New York. No other scene commanded this much of the artist's attention. Cole's Catskill Creek paintings, which include works central to American nineteenth-century landscape art, are an integral series. In Thomas Cole's Refrain, H. Daniel Peck explores the patterns of change and permanence in the artist's depiction of a scene he knew first-hand. Peck shows how the paintings express the artist's deep attachment to place and region while illuminating his expansive imagination. Thomas Cole's Refrain shows how Cole's Catskill Creek paintings, while reflecting concepts such as the stages of life, opened a more capacious vision of experience than his narrative-driven series, such as The Voyage of Life. Relying on rich visual evidence provided by paintings, topographic maps, and contemporary photographs, Peck argues that human experience is conveyed through Cole's embedding into a stable, recurring landscape key motifs that tell stories of their own. The motifs include enigmatic human figures, mysterious architectural forms, and particular trees and plants. Peck finds significant continuities--personal and conceptual--running throughout the Catskill Creek paintings, continuities that cast new light on familiar works and bring significance to ones never before seen by many viewers." -- Publisher's description

Subject

• Cole, Thomas, 1801-1848 > Criticism and interpretation
• Cole, Thomas, 1801-1848 > Homes and haunts > New York (State) > Catskill Mountains Region
• Cole, Thomas, 1801-1848
• Hudson River school of landscape painting
• Homes
• Catskill Mountains Region (N.Y.) > In art
• New York (State) > Catskill Mountains Region

Genre/Form

• Art.
• Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Note

• "Published on the ocassion of the exhibition at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Catskill, New York, May 4-November 3, 2019 and at the Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, November 21, 2019-February 28, 2020."--title page verso.
• "Published in association with the Thomas Cole National Historic Site . . . and with the support of the Hudson River Museum..."--title page verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 157-179) and index.

Contents

Foreword / by Elizabeth B. Jacks -- Foreword / by Marsha Turchinsky -- Prologue : Catskill Creek and a sense of place -- The discovery of Thomas Cole -- A different kind of series -- Discovering Catskill Creek -- Taking a different view -- Living through trying times -- Epilogue : the refrain of Catskill Creek.

Call Number

JQF 19-1059

ISBN

• 9781501733079
• 1501733079

LCCN

• 2018033688
• 40029026547

OCLC

1044771280

Author

Peck, H. Daniel, author.

Title

Thomas Cole's refrain : the paintings of Catskill Creek / H. Daniel Peck.

Publisher

Ithaca, New York : Three Hills, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2019.

Copyright Date

©2019

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 157-179) and index.

Added Author

Thomas Cole National Historic Site, host institution.

Hudson River Museum, host institution.

Other Standard Identifier

40029026547

Research Call Number

JQF 19-1059