The Life and Works of Thomas Cole

"The Life and Works of Thomas Cole," by Cole's pastor and confidante, Louis Legrand Noble, is the primary source of biographical material about Cole. Noble incorporated Cole's own writings--poetry, essays and journal entries--in his text, woven together with narrative, commentary and personal reminiscences. In the introduction by noted Cole scholar Dr. Elliot S. Vesell, Cole's work is placed in historical and critical perspective and assessed in the light of a modern viewpoint. During his peak popularity in the 1820s -1840s, artists flocked to New York's Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley to confront the wilderness and emulate Cole's vision, and America's first indigenous art movement was born--the Hudson River School of landscape painting.