The Louvre's U.S. landscapes
Women look at oil paintings of English-born American artist Thomas Cole (1801-1848), known for realistic and detailed portrayals of American landscape and wilderness, as part of a partnership with American museums for the New Frontier Exhibition at the Louvre Museum in Paris. American tourists fill the galleries of the Louvre, yet American art is surprisingly scarce. Paris' premier museum and three U.S. art institutions are seeking to change that with an exhibit tracing the birth of American landscape painting and its influences. (Jan. 13, 2012) Credit: AP
American tourists fill the galleries of the Louvre Museum in Paris, yet American art is surprisingly scarce.
The city's premier museum and three U.S. art institutions are seeking to change that with an exhibit tracing the birth of American landscape painting and its influences.
The exhibit, "New Frontier: American Art Enters the Louvre focuses on Thomas Cole, a pioneer of the Hudson River School of American landscape painters of the 19th century.
Cole's "The Cross in Solitude," from 1845 and in the Louvre collection, is joined by other loaned works including "The Last of the Mohicans" and work of his disciples.
Curator Guillaume Faroult described how Cole and fellow painter Asher Durand drew inspiration from a 19th century visit to the Louvre, home of centuries of artwork by European and other masters. The exhibit includes paintings that influenced Cole's work.
The show includes conferences and projects aimed at improving the French public's knowledge of early American art. The exhibit runs through April 16.
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