20世纪70年代开始,美国艺术学界把目光投向19世纪的本土风景画,其中受到关注最多的画家就是汤玛斯·科尔(Thomas Cole,1801—1848)。从1825年开始到1875年,是美国写实风景画最为辉煌的时代,美国学界称之为19世纪最重要的艺术现象,并把它和美国的国家主义(nationalism)联系起来。而科尔的风景画,在这段历史中以及在美国风景画的国家主义的解读中扮演了最为重要的角色。 Beginning in the 1970s, the American art community turned its attention to 19th-century native landscape paintings. Among them, the most-watched painter was Thomas Cole (1801-1848). From 1825 to 1875, it was the most brilliant era of American realistic landscape painting. American scholars called it the most important art phenomenon in the 19th century and linked it with the nationalism of the United States. Cole’s landscapes played the most important role in this history and in the interpretation of nationalism in American landscapes.