Painting Distinctively Visual Essay

Early Landscape photography used the same principles as painters in order to create pieces of art. Before the 18th Century, artists used landscapes as backdrops and as a frame for the principal subject. Towards the later part of the century, however, artists such as Nicolas Poussin started to romanticize the environment, instead using it as a principle subject in paintings.

Cole has no restrain in describing the beauty of all the elements found in the American scenery. He talks about the mountains, the sky, the streams, the sunset, waterfalls, all of which are overflowing in richness, full of magnificence, and unsurpassed by any other. For Cole the scenery and nature are subjects which must be present in the souls of every American. While he considers himself and even others underserving of “such a birthright”, he is thankful for the beauties given to us by nature. Cole suggests to his audience that the reason behind him painting natural scenes relates to the experiencing of a particular emotional response while doing so. This is a response which can only be compared to a “calm religious tone”, full of “tranquility and peace.” Witnessing the beauties of the American scenery, anywhere one goes, makes one realize how “the sublime and beautiful are bound together in an indissoluble chain. In gazing on it we feel as though a great void had been filled in our minds.” Cole places great emphasis on the importance for all members of society to learn how to cultivate “a taste for scenery.” This can be achieved by appreciating the physical beauty of nature and the ability of said beauty to provide mankind with a different perspective about life and with

“So long as the human consciousness remains within the hills, canyons, cliffs, and the planets, clouds, and sky, the term landscape, as it has entered the English language, is misleading. ‘A portion of territory the eye can comprehend in a single view’ does not correctly describe the relationship between the human being and his or her

Humanity is but a facet of the sublime macrocosm that is the world’s landscapes. In the relationship between man and landscape, nature is perpetually authoritarian. In her free-verse poems, The Hawthorn Hedge, (1945) and Flame-Tree in a Quarry (1949), Judith Wright illustrates the how refusal to engage with this environment is detrimental to one’s sense of self, and the relentless endurance of the Australian landscape. This overwhelming force of nature is mirrored in JMW Turner’s Romantic artwork, Fishermen at Sea (1796). Both Wright and Turner utilise their respective texts to allegorise the unequal relationship between people and the unforgiving landscape.

Frederic Edwin Church is one of the most significant painters of the Hudson River School whose greatest works inspire awe about natural wonders. One of his famous works “Rainy Season in the Tropics” (1886), oil on canvas, is currently part of the Mildred Anna Williams Collection at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, USA. This work presents the enormous power of the nature but at the same time it calls the viewer to step into and explore the true value of the nature.

In this painting we see an infant that is in a boat. Behind the infant there is an angel that is guiding the child out of a cave into a beautiful landscape. Thomas Cole paints the landscape very rich; you get o a sense of warmth and calmness. There is beautiful green land, big mountains, and different types of flowers.

The world has several great poets and many mind-blowing works, each with its own way of portraying its own message and some the same ones. Jane Flanders wrote the poem named “Cloud Painter” she shows the world from an artistic way, using a painter and his canvas to help the reader picture the true meaning behind the words and images created. Robert Frost takes on the same idea but uses a less complex example so that it makes his work easy to understand while not revealing the real meaning of the poem. Frost and Flanders are just two of the many poets that use nature as a way of explaining the very lessons in life. Each poet has a different way of presenting similar images but from a different perspective.

Understanding the beauty in nature has always been a struggle of mine. In this world of iPhones, laptops, and television at our fingertips, one can become trapped in the black hole of becoming disconnected with nature. I have always planted a flower garden and watching each color try to outshine the other showed me the purest of joys in life; everyone has a pull inside their natural being to be one with nature. Looking at all the awesome creatures God has made for this Earth made me realize that He wants us to enjoy our time on this physical land while we can.

Landscape paintings became of interest to artists as a way to depict nature, a man’s spiritual place in the world, and his relation to God. The paintings of nature became a way for artists to express themselves visually and spiritually, while also expanding what people could see, read, and feel. Landscape paintings helped to grow communities and expand western movement. There was an issue between tearing down and using the resources of nature to build communities and to increase material wealth.

I am analyzing the form and content of a stylized painting entitled The Palisades by John William Hill. This was found in the collection section of themetmusuem.org which was painted during the pre Raphaelite movement; when artist emphasized meticulous detail in what was observed rather than imagined nature. This artwork shows the aesthetics of nature, depicting a peaceful scenery with spacious green acres during the year of the 1870s. During the late 18th centuries, natural resources weren’t highly industrialized and that in itself shows how nature was essential for all human species. I argue that this painting shows how everything in nature connects and communicates with one another.

Landscape painting was a particularly effective vehicle for allegory because it allowed artists to make fictional subjects appear normal, conditioned, acceptable, or destined. Art was not just about the landscape, it actually allowed the spirit of the painter to come alive in their work. The allegory was for moral and spiritual concerns. The introduction to photography therefore impacted 19th century landscape in a manner that was found to be unacceptable because personal intertwinement of expression and emotion could not come from photography.

After viewing the five different works of art offered to write this essay, the piece that spoke to me personally and emotionally was The Oxbow, painted by the artist Thomas Cole in 1836. I truly love the outdoors aspect of pure and unadulterated nature isolated from societies approach to technology, over population, and lack of true freedom. I go camping and hiking with my daughter whenever possible, so I truly appreciate the recognition of natures’ beauty and vitality. The artist used canvas with oil and the medium and its dimensions are 51 ½ x 76 in. Upon further inspection I realized that the painting shows juxtaposing with the tamed and cultured land on the right and the untainted and untouched nature, with brooding darkened clouds on the left. The contrast of light and dark colors also indicate this and whispers to my subconscious. The Oxbow will subliminally remind anyone that the subject is the controversial

Much of his focus on the natural aspects of the landscape is comparable to the romantic era of literature, more specifically, the focus on the stirring of emotions through the uses of technique, color and even structure. This works to strengthen his place as one of the greatest landscape

It is the first modern landscape in Western art. Though the humans seem to be the main focus, the landscape is just as important.

Using natural phenomenon as a starting point for abstraction, Mark Grotjahn’s paintings straddle the polarities of artifice and nature. His painting, Lavender Butterfly Jacaranda over Green (Fig. 2), expresses his fascination with nature. Transferring the experience of observation to an intrigue of creative possibility, Grotjahn harnesses the mysticism of nature through aesthetic formality.