The Use of Landscape Painting as a Means of Commentary - Essay Example

? The use of Landscape Painting as a Means of Commentary An examination of the works of Thomas Cole and Outline Introduction Thomas Cole Protesting against progression and expansion Devices and composition The Course of the Empire series Fredric Church Travel Lighting as a device Political messages Spiritual messages Spiritual messages Conclusion The birth of landscape painting as a completely independent genre occurred in the 19th century. Landscape painting developed on ideas that had become important during the Romantic era, particularly that the landscape itself was picturesque and as such provided a good subject for painting. Painting the landscape was more than turning what was physically present into a painted version, instead, there were many underlying themes, and landscape painting became a way to provide commentary such as the connection of the soul to the spiritual world, (Kleiner, 2010, p. 625), moral or philosophical beliefs. Two authors that achieved this within their work were Thomas Cole and Frederic Church. Understanding the way that these two artists achieved commentary through their work in the 19th century is an effective method of examining commentary in landscape painting within the 19th century as a whole. Thomas Cole was an American landscape painter who was one of a group of artists, collectively known as the Hudson River School. Artists within the school focused on national landscapes as a way of reflecting on their own spiritual values and that of the nation. Their paintings often examined the way that the United States, and its people, was attempting to forge a national culture and identity (Hoy, 2009, p. 6). Another aspect of their work was of the potential for America to become a great nation (Kornhauser et al., 2001). For the American landscape painters, the wildness and uniqueness of their landscape provided a way to express the potential that the country had, as well its history. The United States lacked the long cultural history that their European counterparts had, and as such the landscape provided an effective alternative (Kornhauser et al., 2001, p. 6). Cole lived from 1801 to 1848 and was often referred to as the ‘father’ of the Hudson River School. This term was applied to him because he is considered to be the artist that had the most influence in making landscape painting into a respected and popular genre. Cole’s paintings were not accurate representations of actual views that he observed, instead they were compositions. He argued that the use of composition rather than strict reproduction of the environment did not mean his paintings, or those of his contemporaries, were not of nature. Instead, he considered them to bring together many different parts of nature, making a more complete image than could be attained from a single view (Smithson, 2000). This approach also gave Cole the ability to use his paintings to express viewpoints, and to provide commentary on the world around him and his own particular viewpoints. In his painting The Oxbow, also known by its longer name View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm, Cole presents a landscape view of a particular area of a valley following a rainstorm. The imagery in the piece is interesting, because it consists of two opposite perspectives. The left hand side of the painting is covered in clouds and is darker. The landscape is that of a wildness, forested and untamed. The right hand side of the image is a sharp contrast, and is brighter, consisting of a civilized region, where the wildness is no longer present, and instead there are areas for farms. In the middle of the piece, small and almost unnoticeable, sits an easel. This image can be interpreted as more than a painted representation of the view that the painter saw, instead the painter makes a clear juxtaposition between how the United States was before colonists had made a significant impact and afterwards. The presence of the easel suggests that the artist is attempting to determine the direction that the United States should proceed in, should natural wildness be destroyed in favor of civilization, or should it be retained? (Kleiner, 2010, p. 628). In Cole’s paintings, he often makes use of a withered tree as a device to frame the image. This allowed him a measure of control over the attention of viewers. Another method that he used to express his perceptions was the use of smaller-than-life human figures. This approach gave him the ability to express his own viewpoints in his works, focusing on what was important to him as an artist. In this way, the paintings of Cole were often more than images of the environment around him, but commentary. This can be seen by considering some of his works in detail. In the example of The Oxbow, Cole uses juxtaposition and interpretation of the environment as methods for conveying a particular message. By placing two substantially different images of the natural environment next to one another, the painter draws the problem to the audience’s attention, forcing them to think about it. The easel is a piece of symbolism, reminding viewers that they are not independent of this juxtaposition. Unlike his contemporaries, Cole did not focus on the environment and wilderness as a source of American pride. For Cole, landscape painting provided a mechanism to warn people within the United States about the dangers that were associated with rapid progress, with expansion and unlimited democracy. In addition, he strongly focused on promoting traditional beliefs (Kornhauser et al., 2001, pp. 6-8). This can be seen most prominently in Cole’s five part series, titled The Course of the Empire. This series exemplifies Cole’s method of landscape painting, where he did not simply recreate what he saw in the environment, but instead incorporated other images, resulting in a composition. In this series, Cole follows an imaginary city from its early beginnings, through its success, to its ultimate destruction. The first two images in the series are reminiscent of other landscape paintings by Cole, in that there is little civilization, and most of the components of the image are of the landscape. In the first painting, The Savage State there is some early indications of a civilization, although the land is entirely untamed. The people shown in this image are parallels to Native Americans and their way of life. In essence, this painting provides a reference to America’s past. The image is harsh and dark, focusing on the unpredictability of the environment and how much it overpowers the people that are in it. One way that this can be seen is how small the people and their settlement is compared to the rest of the environment. The differences in scale remain in the second painting, although this image is more peaceful. This painting depicts a slightly different view of the same location, at a later stage in the cultures evolution. The painting is named The Arcadian or Pastoral State. The civilization in the image in pre-urban, and the landscape remains larger than the people. The following two paintings in the series cannot truly be considered landscapes, because they predominantly focus on the civilization, which is now so large that barely any aspects of nature can be seen. In the first, The Consummation of Empire, the city is idealized, while the second, Destruction, is a scene of panic and terror. Although the destruction of the city appears to arise from an enemy attack, nature is more visible in this image, shown by the gathering of storm clouds. The final painting in the series, Desolation, is once again a landscape painting, shown the ruins of the civilization (Ferguson, 2010). Through this series of paintings, as in The Oxbow, Cole uses natural images of the environment, and particularly the weather itself to question the benefits of progression of civilization. The implication of these images is that progression is not necessarily a benefit for the American society. A second landscape artist that used his work to provide commentary during the 19th century was Frederic Church. Like Cole, Church was a central member of the Hudson River School; however his paintings strongly focused on spiritual commentary. Another difference between Church and his contemporaries was that his work was not limited to landscapes from within the United States. Instead, Church travelled throughout the world, to places like Mexico, Europe, South America and the Middle East (Kleiner, 2010, pp. 797-798). Many of the artistic works of Church focused on making images appear picturesque. This was an approach that was related to the personal preferences of the artist, as well as spiritual perceptions. By doing this, Church emphasized the spiritual connection between Americans and the land which they inhabited, as well as the beauty of God’s creation. An example of this approach was one of Church’s early works. This was View of Quebec, although it is likely that the artist had not been to Quebec before he painted the piece. Instead, it was based on an engraving and drawings by others. What is interesting about this composition is that Church chose to change very little about the images that he was using as source material. The elements of the composition and their placement remained the same from his sources to the final painting. Subtle differences were observed in the creation of greater detail and addition of foliage to rocks on the left of the painting. However, the significant difference that exists in Church’s final piece is that of lighting. Church chose to increase the contract of light and shadow in the piece, by brightening the overall lighting. The effect was to increase the beauty of the image (Smithson, 2000, p. 46). From a spiritual perspective, the painting is a very calm image that has a level of peace within it. The sublime landscapes that Church painted did contain political messages, although they are not immediately evident. The strongest aspect of this was that his paintings were created at a time where the Civil War was tearing the country apart, causing significant damage to buildings and the natural environment, as well as the deaths of many Americans. However, paintings such as Twilight in the Wilderness do not show any of this. Instead, this painting, and many others by Church portray the American wilderness in an idealized way, ignoring any indication of the combat that was prevalent. This approach acted to turn the minds of Americans away from the bloody Civil War, and towards an appreciation of their environment and a spiritual sense that Americans were being watched over (Kornhauser et al., 2001, pp. 797-798). Landscape painting within the United States in the middle of the 19th century strongly focused on the concept of a single, integrated community. The works of Church were a significant component of this approach, and this can be seen through the idealized nature of his images. From a political perspective, this approach was crucial. It helped to promote the image of nationwide agreement and a country that was worth more than the individual values of all of its parts combined (Miller, 1992). This viewpoint became crucial during the Civil War, when the concept of America as a whole was not evident to many people (Kornhauser et al., 2001, pp. 797-798). The creation of beautiful landscapes, unaffected by war, and in harmony with human habitation, was hoped to provide a way of generating nationalism during the Civil War (Miller, 1992). An image that provides an example of this is The Heart of the Andes. This patient was highly popular, despite the setting of the painting not being in the United States. In the painting, Church examined the range of life present on the earth. One of the prominent aspects of this painting was the amount of detail that was present (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012). In the 19th century in the United States, nature and God were two closely related topics, and were often used interchangeably. Nature was perceived to be more than a creation of God. Instead, it was considered as a part of his Holy Book, and beyond this, part of God himself. Often, two perceptions of nature were considered, the first was the untamed wildness (Novak, 2007, pp. 1-5), which can be seen in the works of Cole, such as the wildness on the left of The Oxbow or the first painting in The Course of the Empire series, The Savage State. In both of these examples, the wildness is savage and untamed, yet it is not presented as a negative aspect. Church does not use this form of wildness in his landscape paintings much. The Heart of the Andes is one painting that does show an untamed wilderness, however, it is painted in a gentler way, through the use of softer colors and less harsh contrasts. The overall effect in Church’s painting is to make the untamed wildness appear tamed. The second approach to considering God and nature is the pastoral perception. This form of wildness is the natural environment that has been tamed for man’s use. As such, it is no longer wild and unpredictable, but still plays a significant role in the life of men (Novak, 2007, pp. 1-5). The second painting in The Course of the Empire series shows this perception. In this painting, the landscape remains a prominent feature, however, it is not in control of the people within the painting, and instead they have power over it. This approach can also be seen in Church’s work. The painting View of Quebec used this approach. Signs of human civilization are clear in this painting through aspects such as boats and pathways. However, despite this, the natural environment remains the predominant force within the region. A middle-ground between these two perspectives can be seen in paintings that show the environment in an untamed state, but present it in a way where it does not appear threatening. As discussed above, The Heart of the Andes by Church is one example of this, as is Twilight in the Wilderness, also by Church. Because of this perception, all images that focus on the beauty of the environment become spiritual in nature. This is true of both Cole and Church’s work, however, perhaps more so of Church’s. This can be observed by the fact that almost all of Church’s paintings focus on the beauty of the environment, without the strong political messages that are prevalent in many of Cole’s works. However, there was another aspect to Church’s work also. The subjects that Church chose for his paintings were more than interesting landscapes; they represented aspects that were of significant cultural or intellectual interest in that period. This was unusual among his contemporaries, and led to many of his paintings being of landscapes outside the United States. Through his art, Church attempted to examine some areas where science and religion intercepted, in an attempt to determine how these two strong factors related to one another (Fels, 2002, pp. 13-15). One example of this is Church’s interest in the exploration of the Arctic region, which led him to commission a voyage into the North Atlantic, where he painted The Icebergs a painting that was almost as large as his earlier piece The Heart of the Andes (Avery, 2012). The images from these two authors show the way that landscape painting developed as an important genre within the 19th century, and also how this genre did more than provide entertainment for viewers. For Cole, landscape painting provided the ability to protest against some of the changes that were happening within the United States and the level of progression that was occurring. In contrast, for Church, commentary was more limited in his paintings, and focused on the spiritual nature of the environment, and the connection that man shared with God. References Avery, K. J. (2012, July 3). Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900). Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Retrieved July 11, 2012, from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/chur/hd_chur.htm Fels, T. V. (2002). Treasures from the Photographic Collection of Frederic Church at Olana: Fire & Ice: Cornell University Press. Ferguson, N. (2010). Compexity and collapse. Foreign Affairs Retrieved July 11, 2012, from http://www.signallake.com/innovation/FergusonMar10.pdf Hoy, A. H. (Ed.). (2009). The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th Century American Landscape Paintings from the New York Historical Society. New Paltz, NY: The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art. Kleiner, F. S. (2010). Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective (13th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Kornhauser, E. M., Ellis, A., Mlesmer, M., & Athenuem, W. (2001). Hudson River School: Masterworks from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Miller, A. (1992). Everywhere and nowhere: The making of the national landscape. American Literary History, 4(2), 207-229. Novak, B. (2007). Nature and culture: American landscape and painting, 1825-1875 (3rd ed.). Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press. Smithson, I. (2000). Thoreau, Thomas Cole, and Asher Durand: Composing the American landscape. In R. J. Schneider (Ed.), Thoreau's Sense of Place: Essays in American Environmental Writing. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2012, July 3). The Heart of the Andes. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Retrieved July 11, 2012, from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/09.95 Read More