The Musée du Louvre, the High Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the Terra Foundation for American Art partnered on the creation of a four-year collaboration devoted to the programming of annual, focused exhibitions of American and European art. The four institutions sought to share artwork and develop programs to broaden the dialogue about American art across geographic and cultural borders. One curator from each institution took the lead on each project.
The first in the series American Encounters: Thomas Cole and the Narrative Landscape explored the landscape paintings of Thomas Cole and Asher B. Durand. Building connections between European and American art and collections, Thomas Cole and the Narrative Landscape provided visitors to the partner institutions with the opportunity to experience significant works of art, such as Cole’s The Cross in the Wilderness, one of the Louvre’s few artworks by an American, in small, focused exhibitions, inviting contemplation and scholarly investigation. A scholarly Study Day in Paris celebrated the beginning of this fruitful partnership, and a small catalogue was published in conjunction with the exhibition.