Speculative Spirit: The Making of Cole's The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds

Speculative Spirit: The Making of Cole's The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds
Sunday, June 5
Kaufman Theater

The Chrysler Museum's iconic Thomas Cole canvas The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds is the largest the artist ever made and a monumental statement of a young artist's ambitions to channel the lessons of European art into a new practice of major public commissions. The work is in the process of a landmark in-gallery conservation effort that scholars nationwide are watching with great interest, and this talk will discuss the artwork in the context of a remarkable artistic life that was as rife with frustrations as it was rich in lasting achievements. Dr. William L. Coleman, Director of Collections & Exhibitions at The Olana Partnership, shares the history of this incredible painting and the extensive process of restoring its beauty.

About the speaker

Dr. William L. Coleman is an art historian and curator specializing in American landscape art. He serves as Director of Collections & Exhibitions for The Olana Partnership where he oversees the extensive permanent collection at the artist Frederic Edwin Church’s iconic 250-acre designed landscape in Hudson, New York. He co-curated the 2020-22 nationally traveling exhibition Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment. He has been a fellow of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Endowment for the Humanities and has published a variety of scholarship on the history of art, architecture, and music.