From the Top of Kaaterskill Falls

1826

Thomas Cole American, 1801-1848

On View

American, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

The implied viewer stands a few feet from the rushing waters of a stream. The title tells us that we are in fact standing at the precipice of Kaaterskill Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in the eastern United States. Instead of showing the falls, the artist, Thomas Cole, wanted his viewers to imagine its height based on the vast vista of the ravine into which it leaps. Kaaterskill Falls is located about fifteen miles west of the Hudson River in New York State. Cole first saw the falls in late 1825, and his paintings of the site helped make it famous. By the time he visited the falls, a local businessman had constructed a viewing platform at its top and was selling light refreshments to tourists. But Cole wanted to emphasize the wild sublimity of the scene, so he deleted all evidence of tourism from his painting.

Title From the Top of Kaaterskill Falls

Artwork Date 1826

Artist Thomas Cole

Life Dates 1801-1848

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 31 1/8 × 41 1/8 inches (79.1 × 104.5 cm) Framed: 42 1/4 × 52 1/8 × 3 1/4 inches (107.3 × 132.4 × 8.3 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 46.134

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, at lower center: T. Cole | 1826

Inscriptions Inscribed, on the back (before relining): From the top of Kaaterskill Falls 1826

Provenance

1826, probably John Hone (New York, New York, USA). 1946, Old Print Shop (New York, New York, USA). 1946-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

The Thirteenth Annual Exhibition. Exh. cat., The American Academy of the Fine Arts. New York, 1827, no. 120.

Van Zandt, Roland. The Catskill Mountain House. New Brunswick, NJ, 1966, pp. 135-137 (fig. 31).

Parry, Ellwood C. The Art of Thomas Cole: Ambition and Imagination. Newark, 1988, pp. 43-44, 51 (fig. 20).

Myers, Kenneth. The Catskills: Painters, Writers, and Tourists in the Mountains, 1820-1895. Exh. cat., The Hudson River Museum. Yonkers, NY, 1988, p. 113 (pl. 14).

Shaw, Nancy Rivard, et al. American Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts: Works by Artists Born Before 1816. New York, 1991, no. 16 (ill.).

Troyen, Carol. Thomas Cole and the Garden of Eden. Exh. cat., Fenimore Art Museum. Cooperstown, 2018, p. 17 (fig. 19).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

This work is in the public domain.

Thomas Cole, From the Top of Kaaterskill Falls, 1826, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. Fund, 46.134.