1830
oil
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Distant View of Niagara Falls is a 1830 oil by Thomas Cole, a Hudson River School Movement work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see a serene landscape of Niagara Falls in the distance, with trees and foliage in the foreground. The painting is interesting because it shows a romanticized version of the area, without the factories and hotels that were actually there. This was likely a choice made by the artist to focus on nature. You can learn more about this style by looking at the work of the artist: Thomas Cole.
Thomas Cole visited Niagara Falls in May 1829, composing this romanticized, autumnal scene the following year. Portraying the grandeur of the American landscape, the artist omitted the factories, scenic overlooks, and hotels that populated the area in the early 19th century. Cole expressed concern about the environmental impact of voracious industrialism, but at the same time his painting erased the human devastation wrought by colonialism and conquest in the region, which encompassed Attiwonderonk, Haudenosaunee, and Wenrohronon lands. The two Native American figures at center, combined with…
Frank Sabin, London, by 1936; M. Knoedler, London, 1937; Mrs. Edith Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, London, by 1946; to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1946.
WI, Milwaukee Art Institute, Nineteenth Century American Masters , Feb. 20–Mar. 28, 1948, no cat. Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, Thomas Cole 1801–1848: One Hundred Years Later , Nov. 12, 1948–Jan. 2, 1949, cat. 155, as Niagara Falls ; New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Jan. 8–30, 1949. Arts Club of Chicago, The American Landscape , Nov. 14–Dec. 29, 1973, cat. 4. Washington, DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Niagara: Two Centuries of Changing Attitudes, 1697–1901 , Sept. 21–Nov. 24, 1985; Buffalo, NY, Knox Art Gallery, July 13–Sept. 1, 1985; Corcoran Gallery of Art, New–York Historical…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Thomas Cole (February 1, 1801 – February 11, 1848) was an Anglo-American artist who founded the Hudson River School art movement.
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