Liberal Arts Blog — Thomas Cole (1801–1848), “The Oxbow,” Asher Durand (1796–1886), “Kindred Spirits,” Thomas Moran (1837–1926), “The Grand Canyon Of The Yellowstone”
Liberal Arts Blog: Friday is the Joy of Art, Architecture, Design, Film, Fashion, and All Things Visual Day
Today’s Topic: Thomas Cole (1801–1848), “The Oxbow,” Asher Durand (1796–1886), “Kindred Spirits,” Thomas Moran (1837–1926), “The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone”
Two weeks ago, three works of Frederick Church (1826–1900): “Niagara,” “The Heart of the Andes,” and “Icebergs.” Last week, Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902) with featured works being “The Rocky Mountains: Lander’s Peak,” “View from Nassau” and “Emerald Pool.” Today, a third and final instalment in a series on artists of the Hudson River School. I have chosen three works by three different artists.
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
THOMAS COLE (1801–1848) “View from Northhampton, Massachusetts After the Thunderstorm, The Oxbow” (1836) Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. The river depicted is the Connecticut River.
1.”When looking at The Oxbow, the viewer can clearly see that Cole used a diagonal line from the lower right to divide the composition into two unequal halves. The left-hand side of the painting depicts a sublime view of the land, a perspective that elicits feelings of danger and even fear. This is enhanced by the gloomy storm clouds that seem to pummel the not-too-distant middle ground with rain. This part of the painting depictes a virginal landscape, nature created by God and untouched by man. It is wild, unruly, and untamed.” Note the “blasted tree” motif in the foreground.
2. “If the left side of this painting is sublime in tenor, on the right side of the composition we can observe a peaceful pastoral landscape that humankind has subjugated to their will. The land, which was once as disorderly as the left side of the painting, has now been overtaken buy the order and regulation of agriculture. Animals gfraze. Crops grow. Smoke billows from chimneys. Boats sail upon the river.”
3. “What was once wild is now tamed. The thunderstorm which threatens the left side of the painting, has left the land on the right refreshed and no worse for the wear. The sun shines brightly, filling the right side of the painting with a golden glow of a fresh afternoon.”
ASHER DURAND (1796–1886), “Kindred Spirits” (the two figures are Thomas Cole and the poet William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878) The painting is now in the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas
1. Painted a year after Cole’s death.
2. “Combining two locations- Kaaterskill Falls and the Clove — in an idealised format, the painting illustrates the idea of communing with Nature.”
3. “As kindred spirits, Cole and Bryant both shared a passion for the American landscape.”
NB: In the summer of 1840, Bryant explored the Kaaterskill area of the Catskills with Cole. Standing on the ledge looking out towards the valley, the paintings’ figures of Bryant and Cole illustrate Cole’s 1836 description: “…in gazing on the pure creations of the Almighty, he feels a calm religious tone steal through his mind, and when he has turned to mingle with his fellow men, the chords which have been struck in the sweet communion cease not to vibrate.”
THOMAS MORAN (1837–1926) “The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone” (1872)
1. “By illustrating the wild spaces of the region with his pencils and brushes, Moran influenced the initial decision to preserve Yellowstone for future generations. His portraits came to the attention of the United States Congress and President Ulysses S. Grant. On March 1, 1872, Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first national park, was born when Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law.”
2. “Before Moran painted the Yellowstone region and made his sketches bring it to life, the American public had trouble believing the reports of the wonders it held. When Moran captured the national imagination with his majestic paintings and sweeping landscapes, he cemented for one of the first times the national treasures of the region. A generation of Americans was inspired to take pride in the wild spaces of the West, even if they might never travel to these wonders themselves.”
3. Moran was the chief illustrator of Scribner’s Monthly (1870–1881). He also has a painting in the White House: “The Three Tetons” (1895).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cole
Asher Brown Durand — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Moran
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindred_Spirits_(painting)
Thomas Moran: Artistic Master of the Conservation Movement (U.S. National Park Service)
The Course of Empire (paintings) — Wikipedia
The Voyage of Life — Wikipedia
https://www.singulart.com/en/blog/2023/11/13/thomas-moran-famous-paintings/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Tetons
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IP5ATbqCWPv0WKC4dCDgAiidbFVOaqR_
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned recently or ever related to art, sculpture, design, architecture, film, or anything visual.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. And to cement in your own memory something cool or important you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that is close to your heart.
