Exhibition to celebrate late, award-winning artist Hudson Talbott

CATSKILL―The Thomas Cole National Historic Site will be unveiling a new exhibition to celebrate the work of the late, award-winning artist Hudson Talbott, whose talents have inspired audiences for decades through his children’s picture books.

“Hudson Talbott: Shining Objects” is a retrospective of the acclaimed artist’s career.

Talbott, who called Catskill home, passed away on January 22. At the time, he was the longest-serving member of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site Board of Directors, having served for more than two decades.

Talbott’s most famous work, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, was adapted into a 1993 full-length animated film produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation studio.

He illustrated the Newbury Honor Book Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson, and adapted Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods into a book for young readers.

“Both Steve and I loved what he did, and the book remains my favorite gift to anyone who has a child,” James Lapine, the musical’s Tony Award-winning librettist, told The New York Times.

Two of Talbott’s other titles, River of Dreams: The Story of the Hudson River and O'Sullivan Stew, were made into children's musicals.

“Hudson Talbott was a renowned artist with an extraordinary gift for engaging young readers,” said Maura O’Shea, executive director of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.

“We at the Thomas Cole Site were very fortunate to call him our beloved and longstanding friend and were fortunate, too, that he applied his enormous talents to introducing Thomas Cole and the role of the artist to young readers,” said O’Shea.

Another of his books, Picturing America: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Art, introduces new generations to Cole and the legacy of the artist.

Picturing America takes readers on a unique journey through the life of Thomas Cole (1801-1848), founder of the influential American art movement known as the Hudson River School of landscape painting. In doing so, it highlights his pioneering passion for the environment and celebrates a love of painting that will inspire readers to draw and paint the landscape around them.

Picturing America was published in hardback in 2018 by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The paperback version is the first children’s book published by the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.

“His lasting legacy will include all of his works and those inspired by him,” said O’Shea. “What a superb way to help new generations, in their own way, picture America!”

The exhibition will open on April 11 and run through May 24 in the New Studio, the reconstructed 1846 building designed by Thomas Cole as his own studio. It will present more than 75 of Talbott’s works, including a selection of his original paintings and sketches, his painting table, examples of his more than 30 books for young readers, and a selection of his early commercial work.

“This retrospective reveals the extraordinary range and breadth of Hudson Talbott’s artistry,” said Amanda Malmstrom, associate curator of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.

“It’s stunning to see it in one setting, especially a setting designed by Thomas Cole, who deeply inspired Hudson’s work and continues to galvanize new generations of artists,” Malmstrom said.

Exhibition access is included with general admission tickets. Visit thomascole.org/tickets for information and hours.

Talbott’s final book, The Next Shiny Object, will be published this summer.