Political Quotes

“I rise to introduce a bill which would place the home and studio of Thomas Cole under the care of the National Park Service as a National Historic Site. Thomas Cole founded the American artistic tradition known as the Hudson River School. He painted landscapes of the American wilderness as it never had been depicted, untamed and majestic, the way Americans saw it in the 1830's and 1840's. His students and followers included Frederick Church, Alfred Bierstadt, Thomas Moran, and John Frederick Kennesett. No description of Cole's works would do them justice, but let me say that their moody, dramatic style and subject matter were in sharp contrast to the pastoral European landscapes that Americans had previously admired. The new country was just settled enough that some people had time and resources to devote to collecting art. Cole's new style coincided with this growing interest, to the benefit of both. Cole had begun his painting career in Manhattan, but one day took a steamboat up the Hudson for inspiration. It worked. The landscapes he saw set him on the artistic course that became his life's work. He eventually moved to a house up the river in Catskill, where he in turn boarded, owned, married, and raised his family. That house, known as Cedar Grove, remained in the Cole family until 1979, when it was put up for sale.”