Thomas Cole (1801-1848), arguably the greatest American landscape artist of his generation, is presented here in a new light: as an international figure, born in England, and in dialogue with the major landscape painters of the age, including J.M.W. Turner and John Constable. Cole traveled in Europe from 1829 to 1832. Thomas Cole's Journey reexamines his seminal works of 1832-36--notably The Oxbow and Course of Empire--as a culminating response to his experiences of British art and society and of Italian landscape painting. These, combined with Cole's passion for the American wilderness and his horror of the industrial revolution in Britain, led him to create works that offer a distinctive, even dissident, response to the economic and political rise of the United States and the ecological changes then underway. This groundbreaking book also discusses Cole's influence on later artists, from Frederic Edwin Church to Ed Ruscha.

"Thomas Cole (1801-1848) is celebrated as the greatest American landscape artist of his generation. Though previous scholarship has emphasized the American aspects of his identity, never before has the British-born artist been presented as an international figure, in direct dialogue with the major landscape painters of the age. Thomas Cole's Journey emphasizes the artist's travels in England and Italy from 1829 to 1832 and his crucial interactions with such painters as Turner and Constable. Presenting the artist's most renowned paintings--The Oxbow (1836) and The Course of Empire cycle (1834-36)--as the culmination of his European experiences and of his abiding passion for the American wilderness, this lavishly illustrated catalogue provides a new perspective on these cherished masterpieces. Four essays examine how Cole's first-hand knowledge of the British industrial revolution and his study of the Roman Empire positioned him to create works that offer a distinctive, even dissident, response to the economic and political rise of the United States, the ecological and economic changes then underway, and the dangers that faced the young nation." -- Publisher's description