The Oxbow: After Church, After Cole, Flooded (Flooded River for the Matriarchs E. & A. Mongan), Green Light
Stephen Hannock American
Not on view
Hannock's mural-size painting is a contemporary interpretation of the Connecticut River scene made famous by Thomas Cole's View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow (1836; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 08.228). Hannock emphasizes the vista's grandeur while at the same time personalizing it with an overlay of script referring to people, places, and events from his life. In addition to Cole, the painting's title pays homage to the nineteenth-century artist Frederick Church and to two of Hannock's early mentors, Elizabeth and Agnes Mongan, who were connected to the museums at Harvard and Smith College.