Cole, Thomas Casilear (1888-1976) — The New Deal Museum

Born in Staatsburg-on-Hudson, NY, Cole was named after two renowned painters of the Hudson River School: Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and John William Casilear (1811-1893). He attended school at the Riverview Military Academy in Poughkeepsie, NY (1900-04) and Harvard University (1905) before turning his attention to painting studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1905-11) and Académie Julian, Paris (1912). In 1909, he published a history in New England Magazine on Old St. Mary’s Church at Newton’s Lower Falls, illustrated by his own paintings. Cole served in the US Navy between 1917 and 1919, and beginning in May 1918 worked under William Andrew Mackay in a special unit for the camouflage of ships and submarines at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. During the final eight months of World War I, more than 1,200 US ships were painted with so-called “disruptive coloration”. After the war, he showed his talents at a Knoedler Gallery exhibition of Allied Commander portraits, Cole’s praised as “having a personality all their own with the dark rich coloring in the figures and the well-modeled faces contrasted against the dark background” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle 19 Oct. 1919: 77). He went on to exhibit his work widely, including the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago. A reviewer of his 1927 exhibition of 33 portraits at Ainslee Gallery wrote: “In all cases the portraits are distinguished by a sincerity and a happy achievement of the most difficult of all painters’ problems, that of satisfying both sitter and himself (Brooklyn Daily Eagle 13 Feb. 1927: 59). Cole became so well-known for his portraits that he was often commissioned to paint public and historical figures like President James K. Polk. 13 more images at FAP. His papers are at the Archives of American Art.

Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Thomas Cole:

Featured

Old Fish Wharves, Rockport

Cole's painting is very still and serene. There is virtually no movement--even the water is calm--and the air appears suffused with a hazy glow. The scene's imbalanced composition leaves a space for an implied sunrise or sunset at right. Cole's simplification into a few chosen objects draws our eyes to the boats in the water, their color contrasting with the surrounding scenery.

Old North Church

The Old North Church towers over a dismal, darkened street. A break of sunlight gradually illuminates the peaks of the buildings, sidewalk near the church, and the almost nonvisible side of the church’s steeple. There is a hazy quality to the painting; it blurs the figures moving down the road, who appear to be shadowy splotches blending in with the sidewalks and cold, bland buildings. Each structure is simple; the only discernible details are the spires, lantern, and belfry of the steeple.

Still Life with Portrait

A portrait of a woman looks off, away from a light source igniting the glaze on the canvas, casting a white glow across the surface: below her sits a still life layout of like-colored objects. In the shadow rests a cut-open orange sitting on the stem of a tulip of a similar hue. Beside it is an off-white bowl, holding unidentifiable fruits.

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