Catskill Mountains (1,279 m - 4,180 ft)
United States of America (New York State)
In Castkill Mountains House, The 4 elements, oil on canvas, 1843-44. private collection
The mountains
The Catskill Mountains (1,279 m - 4,180 ft) also known as The Catskills,
are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains,
located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region,
the Catskills are generally defined as those areas close to or within
the borders of the Catskill Park, a 700,000-acre (2,800 km2) forest
preserve forever protected from many forms of development under New York
state law.
Geologically, the Catskills are a mature dissected plateau, a once-flat
region subsequently uplifted and eroded into sharp relief by
watercourses. The Catskills form the northeastern end of the Allegheny
Plateau (also known as the Appalachian Plateau).
The Catskills are well known in American culture, both as the setting
for many 19th-century Hudson River School paintings and as the favored
destination for vacationers from New York City in the mid-20th century.
The region's many large resorts gave countless young stand-up comedians
an opportunity to hone their craft. In addition, the Catskills have long
been a haven for artists, musicians, and writers, especially in and
around the towns of Phoenicia and Woodstock.
The painter
Thomas Cole (1801– 848) was
an American artist known for his landscape and history paintings. He is
regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art
movement that flourished in the mid-19th century. Cole's work is known
for its romantic portrayal of the American wilderness.
In New York,
Cole sold five paintings to George W. Bruen, who financed a summer trip
to the Hudson Valley where the artist produced two Views of Coldspring,
the Catskill Mountain House and painted famous Kaaterskill Falls and
the ruins of Fort Putnam. Returning to New York, he displayed five
landscapes in the window of William Colman's bookstore; according to the
New York Evening Post Two Views of Coldspring were purchased by Mr. A.
Seton, who lent them to the American Academy of the Fine Arts annual
exhibition in 1826. This garnered Cole the attention of John Trumbull,
Asher B. Durand, and William Dunlap. Among the paintings was a landscape
called "View of Fort Ticonderoga from Gelyna". Trumbull was especially
impressed with the work of the young artist and sought him out, bought
one of his paintings, and put him into contact with a number of his
wealthy friends including Robert Gilmor of Baltimore and Daniel
Wadsworth of Hartford, who became important patrons of the artist.
Cole was primarily a painter of landscapes, but he also painted
allegorical works. Cole influenced his artistic peers, especially Asher
B. Durand and Frederic Edwin Church, who studied with Cole from 1844 to
1846. Cole spent the years 1829 to 1832 and 1841 to 1842 abroad, mainly
in England and Italy.
Thomas Cole died at Catskill on February 11,
1848. The fourth highest peak in the Catskills is named Thomas Cole
Mountain in his honor.
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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
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