It’s known as “the place where American art was born.” The Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, New York, about three hours or so from New York City, on the west side of the Hudson. It was the views of the countryside, river and peaks that inspired English immigrant, Thomas Cole in the early 1800’s, to create a new art movement whose theme focused on the beauty of America’s natural wilderness.

On a trip up the river to this sleepy upstate town from his Manhattan home, Cole was so taken by the beauty of the surroundings as seen from the wrap-around porch of a guest house, he began making sketches. Then to take hikes to nearby vistas to draw the views from there, and on and on. He’d outline a hillside of rocks or the river at various times of day, even get as detailed as drawing the gnarly branches of a fallen tree. He experimented with the light from the sunsets and how it played off the river, sky and mountains; he added farm animals, and people. Eventually he’d incorporate all of these drawings into a collection of paintings that were the foundation for the Hudson River School, inspiring such artists as Asher Durand, and Frederick Church.

In the mid-1800’s, Cole eventually moved up to Catskill, married the daughter of the owner of the guest house, and began a prolific career of landscape paintings. It’s his work that draws tourists from all over, so they can see some early sketches, the grounds he walked in, the studio where he painted, and the nearby vistas that so inspired him. But, there’s a new exhibition in town. One for the ladies. Called, “Remember the Ladies: Women of the Hudson River School.” You see, this new style of painting took off and grew extremely popular, but there were a handful of inspired female artists who were just as talented. Take Julie Hart Beers, (1835-1913), sister to two of the most famous artists in the Hudson River School movement. After her husband of four years, George Washington Beers, died, she moved in with her brother, William, who was working in a Brooklyn studio. Julie began to paint with the hopes of becoming financially independent, and eventually she and her two daughters moved into a New York City apartment, and lived what would have been called, “a bohemian” lifestyle. Her works, “Summer Landscape,” and two paintings on composition board, “Woodland Scene,” and “The Hudson as seen from Henry Villard’s House – Tarrytown – Christmas,” are on display.

While Cole and his counterparts could strap an easel to their back, and a painting box under their arm when they went on their hike, it was not so easy for these women, who also looked to venture out in the wilderness for their inspiration. As co-curator, Jennifer Krieger writes in her exhibition notes, “There was also an overarching social prejudice against women painting outdoors. Many of their male colleagues did not deem women physically capable of the rigors of ‘plein-aire’ [open air] work.” These ladies had to maneuver around in restrictive garments such as corsets, trains, bustles, hoops and tight bodices. Artists like Harriet Cany Peale began to force changes to fashions, though in fear of being labeled “masculine,” they’d pull up their skirts with strings during climbs, wore trousers under long skirts instead of petticoats, or went for shorter skirts.

The exhibition, “Remember the Ladies,” at the Thomas Cole site, offers the first glimpse of these talented Hudson Valley women painters. The show runs until October 31, before it moves about the country. Thanks go out to Co-curators Nancy Siegel, Associate Professor of Art History at Towson University, and Jennifer Krieger, Managing Partner of Hawthorne Fine Arts in Manhattan.

Like Cole did almost two hundred years ago, take a trip up here to view the vistas, and the mountains that so moved him and others after. Besides touring Cole’s home and gardens, you can take the “art trail” hike to the areas Cole would later paint in his landscapes. Visit Olana in Hudson, NY, to see the works of Frederic Church. Make it a true historic weekend by traveling north to Coxsackie and The Bronck Museum complex, known as “the oldest surviving dwelling in upstate New York,” by the Greene County Historical Society. (The story goes that the Bronx, by the way, was named after this Bronck family.)

For more information about The Thomas Cole Historic Site, visit www.thomascole.org For other things to do in Greene County, visit their site at www.greenetourism.com

Paintings from top:

Harriet Cany Peale (1800-1869)
Kaatterskill Clove, 1858
Oil on canvas, 36 x 25 in.
Private Collection

Julie Hart Beers (1835-1913)
Hudson Valley at Croton Point, 1869
Oil on canvas, 12 x 20 in.
Collection of Nicholas V. Bulzacchelli

Mary Blood Mellen (1817-1882)
Field Beach, c1850s
Oil on canvas on board, 24 x x 33 15/16 in.
Cape Ann Museum, Gift of Jean Stanley Dise, 1970.2019-2