Explore Thomas Cole

Founded in 1827 (the date is often incorrectly given as 1829), the Sketch Club brought landscape artists together for meals, socializing, and professional conversations. Cole hosted the first meeting of the Sketch Club in his rooms on 2 Greene Street in New York City. Most of the other Hudson River School artists were also members, as well as important writers, critics and patrons. The Century Club—an organization founded in 1847 and still in existence today—evolved from the Sketch Club and included many of the same members.