European IV, Hudson River School and other Americans V

The collection of SG art posts starts with the variety of Europe and a much more developed American scene than we realized before doing this. The reward in posting pictures is what we learn finding them. We keep gushing about revelations and discoveries because it keeps happening. Every time we think we're getting a handle on the amount of beauty in the art of the West, it springs more on us. 

Gioacchino La Pira, The Bay of Naples; Vesuvius in Eruption, 19th century


Putting little microposts together into this format makes connections and patterns stand out. There is also an advantage in seeing something powerful the second time. When it isn't a revelation or a discovery it's easier to control the emotional reaction and look rationally. We may have classified Europe too broadly. And the Americans were way more artistically developed than the lies of Modernism pretend.






Europeans

This group starts with an old master whose skill with light and shadow still amazes today. One thing that made the art of the West so impressive was the idea of a tradition that each generation was part of. This way artists had to live up to the examples and build on the innovations of centuries of predecessors. Having Rembrandt to look at gives a young painter a wealth of education. The skill and vision have to be there, but it's vastly superior to starting from scratch.

We're starting to second guess the idea of putting the Europeans together. It's good to see the variety, but we suspect there may be national differences that are being overlooked. Something to consider. That said, the variety is incredible. The differences in technique and approach is what puts the lie to self-indulgent bleating about tradition being restrictive. There's no restriction here. Bouguereau's academic classical realism is a wonder, Wahlberg's practically an Impressionist, La Pira and Nerly approach fantasy art, and there are sublime landscapes that would be home in America. There's no one way to paint. The only restriction is that you be good at it.

Rembrandt, The Supper at Emmaus, 1628

Sunday genius in chiaroscuro.

Light & shadow capture the feel of the sudden realization & of Jesus’ supernatural aura. And look how they organize everything on a dramatic diagonal axis.

Johannes Rosierse, Young Woman at the Table in Candlelight, 19th century

Dutch study of light & reflection. In good chiaroscuro paintings, light defines the shapes in the darkness.

Note the realistic fabric & silverware.

Peder Mørk Mønsted, Spring Day at Sæby, 1912

Spring foliage and reflections from a Danish painter at a time when art was supposedly “Modern”.

Styles come and go. Beauty, like the changing of the seasons, is timeless.

Alceste Campriani, Pond with Ruins, 1890-3

Ruins remind us that the works of man fade. And a new day reminds us that time cycles on indifferently.

There’s no going “back” to what was. But we can determine what’s to come.

German Pierced & Carved Ivory Panel, mid-19th century

Sunday sculpture. Ivory carving was an age-old tradition.

You can dislike the modern ivory trade & appreciate the color & texture that made it popular since pre-history.

Gioacchino La Pira, The Bay of Naples; Vesuvius in Eruption, 19th century

Study of contrast between moonlight and lava.

Many artists were drawn to Vesuvius for obvious reasons. La Pira’s may have the most dramatic light.

Alfred Wahlberg, Orchard in Spring, 19th century

Loose technique is more streaks & blobs than sharp lines.

It lets this Swedish painter capture the vitality of Spring. The flowers jump out like fireworks.

Context matters.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Innocence, 1893

Sunday & Mother’s Day with an academic master. Like any good allegory, the style matches the subject.

The beauty of innocence via Christian classicism, just before “Modernity”.

P. S. Krøyer, Summer Evening on Skagen’s Southern Beach, 1893

Danish artist paints his wife & her friend, makes a fleeting moment timeless.

Detail up close makes the scene real but hazy distance puts focus on the figures.

Charles Euphrasie Kuwasseg, A Street Scene in Chartres, 1885

Sunday morning picture with a church spire as axis & light source of an attractive well-ordered town.

We always knew this. Modernity was pretending we didn’t.

Johann Gottfried Steffan, Bramois, 1861

Swiss painter with a striking view of a mountain town. Contrasting textures make it intimate & epic at once.

Note the church at the center. There are no organic “secular” cultures.

Ernst Koerner, Twilight on the Nile, 1899

German artist with the glory of a desert sunset across the water.

The liquid light in the clouds & water are a little reminiscent of Turner & are the real star of the picture.

Gioacchino la Pira, Capri, 19th-early 20th century

There’s a natural brightness to watercolor and this Italian painter uses well – washing his scene with a haze of rosy light.

The turquoise water is especially well done.

Hans Dahl, Fjord Landscape with a Girl, 19th century

Norwegian painter combines dramatic glimpses of his homeland & traditional figures.

Imagine a society not led by 24-7 immersion in globalist-curated mass media lies.

Bonifacius Cornelis van Greyffenswerth, Landscape with Brook, Pilgrims and a Chapel, 19th century

Sunday morning picture of a woodland chapel.

The rising sun lights the front as a visible symbol of God’s grace in the beauty of creation.

Friedrich Nerly, Piazzetta, San Marco in Moonlight, 19th century

German painter with a Venetian night. The moon lights the Lion of St. Mark like a halo & turns water to glass.

The lantern-bearers give it the feel of a story.

Emilio Sánchez Perrier, A Riverbank in Poissy, 19th century

Spanish artist captures the distinct feel of overcast light on a river. The texture of the plants adds to the realism.

The truth & beauty in art includes Creation.








Hudson River School

A collection of familiar faces and the one French member of the School. Gignoux studied landscape painting in Europe before spending 30 years painting in America. He formally joined the Tenth Street Studio with Bierstadt, Church, Cropsey, Kensett and others of that generation, where he found his artistic home. His picture here is a European scene and he retired to his native Paris, But he was an active member of the Hudson River School for most of his career during it's most dynamic phase, so he's a better fit than Herzog. The other pictures help see the connections within the group. Durand's painting is a tribute to his close friend and School founder, Thomas Cole.

Albert Bierstadt, Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite, 1871-73

Hudson River School painter captured the majestic feel of the American West.

The deer set the scale & the mist from the falls makes the far cliffs seem grander.

John Frederick Kensett, Lake George, 1860

Hudson river painter with a favorite subject. Calm hides complexity - look at the light reflect on the water.

Dissolving the center into a mist of light adds depth & a morning feel.

Hermann Herzog, Woodland Pool, 19th century

Intimate scenes can have a grandeur of their own

German artist was drawn to America’s rugged scenery. Here he makes the pool seem both timeless and fresh enough to jump into.

Alfred Thompson Bricher, View of Mount Washington, 1864

There can be a misty quality to early morning light, with the sun low & the air damp with dew.

You can see the glassy water & hazy shapes. Imagination adds the sounds.

Francis Augustus Silva, Evening on the Coast, 1877

New York-born painter connected with the Hudson River School was popular for his coastal light.

You can see it in the sky & the water. The clouds are also very well done.

Asher Durand, Kindred Spirits: Thomas Cole & William Cullen Bryant, 1849

Original Hudson River School artist celebrates their founding father & his poet friend.

Cole died a year earlier. Durand was his first disciple.

Thomas Moran, Sunset on Long Island, 1901

Hudson River School master reminds that at day’s end, the servants of the lie know only ugliness while we know glory.

Hid foreground-background contrast is just ridiculous here.

Marie-Francois-Regis Gignoux, Sunrise in the Alps, 19th c.

French who artist moved to NY & joined the Hudson River School. It shows in the dark foreground & misty depth.

Morning mist is rising & the day is already underway.

Jasper Francis Cropsey, The Old Home, 1886

This weird year, Independence Day reminds us that you can be smart or be careful, but you can’t be independent & always “stay safe”.

Time’s coming for choosing.






Other Americans

The impact of the Hudson River School can be felt in the powerful and expressive landscapes that
19th century American art is full of. Edward Moran was more of a marine painter and not part of the School but shares his brother's energy. Some landscapes are more naturalistic, some more mysterious, but all share the beauty of natural logos. There's a bit of Americana here too. It is all connected.

Martin Johnson Heade, Sunset over Newburyport Meadows, 19th century

American painter with the moment when the light is dim but the sunset blaze hasn’t flared up yet.

The difference between colors narrows at twilight.

Arthur Parton, In the Woods, 19th century

American artist uses incredible delicacy to capture the vital energy of a woodland morning.

Fine detail doesn’t have to be fussy - here it makes the creek banks burst with life.

John George Brown, The Berry Boy, 1877

Why did the beast system attack art so savagely? It’s not just beauty.

Culture lives through shared experience. Art lets us see what our forefathers did.

It’s our heritage showing itself to us.

Hugh Bolton Jones, Summer in the Blue Ridge, 1874

July 4th with a classic American landscape vision.

Jones is good at creating seasonal feelings in his pictures. This calls to mind a hot still summer day.

Martin Johnson Heade, Sunset Over the Marshes, 1890s

American painter with an expressive sunset on wet terrain.

This sky is impressive, but the ground is subtle genius. A close look shows the fine gradients in tone.

Alexander Helwig Wyant, A Summer Haunt, 1881

Painting the seasons means paying attention to seasonal light.

There’s a brightness in the summer sun, even when it’s overcast. In the woods, it looks like this.

Edward Moran, Sunset, New York Bay, 1872

Thomas’ brother was a successful painter too.

The lighthouse blocks the glare of the sunset so he can explore subtle light effects while filling the scene with a radiant glow.

Hudson River School and other Americans IV, Russians III

This collection of SocialGalactic art posts is another pairing of Americans and Russians. The Band has noticed that putting traditions together like this makes it easier to pick up on how they work. It's clear all these artists are working in the same large concept of art. Their materials, subjects, techniques, and basic ideas are all pretty much the same. But when you see enough of them, you start to notice subtle similarities within the groups and differences between them that are hard to put into words. Americans and Russians make a good pair because they have a lot in common. Very different histories, but both on the edge of Europe in important ways. So they are both able to master those Western practices, but from unique, partial-outsider perspectives.

Frederick Remington, Taint on the Wind, 1906


Both view the land with reverence. The Russians have more sense of timelessness and the Americans restless progress - as you'd expect from their histories. Remember - real art expresses culture. But it's also stylistic. Textures, the way light is handled - a feel that you can come to recognize. Exposure is how connoisseurs develop their skills - it used to take money and connections just to see the necessary art. Now we can look at thousands of paintings online. It's not the same as being able to study the real things, but we aren't trying to be connoisseurs. But it's perfect - historically unprecedented - for reconnecting with and understanding our stolen cultural legacy






Hudson River School

Good selection of the wider school, including a few artists we haven't seen yet. The Hudson River School is a much larger and more long-lived group than you'd think from the "histories". They got their start in the region they're named for with a Romantic-flavored style that celebrated the magnificence of the landscape. There was a spiritual dimension as well - the beauty of logos in Creation as a sign of the divine Logos of the Creator. It's not an inherently false or inverted notion and they were capable of great beauty. But it's easy to see how it could subvert into glorifying the material, and that's the pattern to all the secular transcendences - Manifest Destiny, City on the Hill, Magic Dirt - that led to the current predicament.

The second generation of Hudson River School artists expanded their range. Many went west - Bierstadt and Moran's visions of the American West are treasures. Trips overseas and to South America added more material for some - Church was famous for his travelling. Herzog painted in Florida, Gifford and Whittredge in Europe, and so forth. What never changes is the combination of natural beauty with a sublime - almost metaphysical - feel. This is a group that really needs it's history worked out - the way the Modernist scribblers have been tracked to the minutest degree.

Thomas Moran, Sunset, Amagansett, 1905

Golden sunset fills the sky with liquid light. Hudson River School’s Moran combines intensity & timelessness.

The contrast with the dark foreground makes it easy to miss the detail.

Thomas Worthington Whittredge, The Meadow, 19th century

Underrated American painter continues the hot summer theme.

Light changes with the seasonal movements of the sun. Whittredge captures the feeling of the dog days.

Frederic Edwin Church, The Cross in the Wilderness, 1857

Sunday with an American variation on the Romantic theme where land & faith are one

The cross faces the light opposite still water & dark rock. Across the great divide.

Thomas Cole, Expulsion Moon and Firelight, 1828

Sunday morning spectacle from a Hudson River School founder. Try & spot Adam & Eve.

Timely reminder there’s a reason the world is a chaotic Fallen mess. And there’s only one solution.

John William Casilear, Lake George, 1860

Dark trees to the left guide the eye into a vision of early morning light.

The Hudson River School painters were drawn to Lake George for its scenic mix of mountains, woods & water.

Albert Bierstadt, A Rest on the Ride, 1863

Vast spaces shaped American notions of freedom & progress. They are drawn forward to the light.

Some aspects of national identity never came to grips with the end of the frontier.

Jasper Francis Cropsey, William Penn’s Wedding, 1870

American Sunday painting reminds us of the connection between community & faith.

The cohesion of traditional communities can be hard for atomized modern people to grasp.

Francis A. Silva, Sunrise at Tappan Zee, 1874

Good morning SG. American Luminist painter with a liquid sunrise over the Hudson.

When you consider what America started with, the Fallen nature of the world becomes obvious.

Jervis McEntee, Twilight, 19th century

American painters were drawn to the vast American landscape. This distinguished them from the Europeans.

Sunset across the fields & behind the mountains. A distinctly American vision.

Frederic Edwin Church, Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, 1870

For Sunday, a Hudson River School take on the Holy Land.

Note the turbulent skies, the light breaking in from above, and remember what happened there.

Worthington Whittredge, Second Beach, Newport, 1865

Sunset colors glow off wet sand. It’s almost photographic, but is much older than color photography.

Muted tones make the setting sun seem bright. The beauty of subtlety.








Other American

You can see the variety in the maturing American scene - what might have been without modernism. Genre scenes and Americana, landscapes of different types, skilled lighting and atmosphere, techniques to copy natual conditions, strong individual styles. The Hudson River School influence is clear, but without being overpowering - how healthy traditions work. What's important is not to despair. Modernism was a crime against humanity and it can be breathtaking in a bad way when the magnitude sinks in. But we're looking at the pictures. Nice reproductions with a quality and ease of access unimaginable even a generation ago. The beauty that we're collecting and sharing would not have been possible before now.

Collectors, galleries, dealers, and other less glamorous parts of the art economy - the real parts that aren't globalist salients in the culture war - did a good job of keeping this stuff. They didn't write the book and histories that makes it easy to understand, but they kept records of ownership and took good pictures. It's all still there. And we get to pick it up.

George McCord, Florida Sunrise, 1880

Good morning SG with a great American sunrise.

The glorious colors behind dark foliage is dramatic. But the glare of the sun is realistically blinding & you can feel the heat in the air.

Louis Aston Knight, The Old Mill, early 20th century

American painter with a tranquil scene & a timely lesson.

Societies can’t withstand supporting huge populations who don’t do any kind of productive work.

Roman mob 2.0

George Inness, Spring, 19th century

American painter shows the working side of spring rebirth.

People & organic communities that produce their own food have a closer relationship to the rhythm of the seasons.

John Joseph Enneking, Spring Hillside, 19th century

Loose technique can capture the impact of something very detailed. Just as the eye loses resolution with distance.

Like the vitality and color of a spring hillside.

George Caleb Bingham, Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, 1845

Frozen moment in American history.

Skillful contrast. Tranquil sky & water seem timeless but the men real characters. The cat on the leash brings it to life.

Martin Johnson Heade, Girls in an Orchard, 1875

American painter with a picture of Spring rebirth.

Along with the appearance of a flowering orchard, he captures the feeling of vital energy bursting into colorful new life.

William Trost Richards, Moonlight on Mount Lafayette, NH, 1873

American watercolor where the light seems to sparkle & hang in the air.

Richards - a realist - gets the low-light color, but there’s a fantasy quality to this.

Hugh Bolton Jones, Early Spring, Near Sheffield, MA, 19th century

Seasonal painting from an American who does a great job with the immature foliage.

The clear light and dark water are also perfect for the time of year.

Frederick Remington, Taint on the Wind, 1906

The painter of the American West with that sense that something is amiss.

The threat of the frontier was the appeal - you were on your own. A more honest arrangement in many ways.

Cleveland Rockwell, Smoky Sunrise Astoria Harbor, 1882

Fires have always made the air hazy. The silver lining? Spectacular light effects.

Like a sunrise off the Oregon coast looking like the coal smoke of Grimshaw’s London

Sydney Laurence, Mt McKinley Twilight Mist, 1920

Alaska artist with a misty vision of NA’s highest mountain.

The dark detail in the foreground & fainter mountain create an impression of great distance and majestic scale.

Lowel Birge Harrison, Moonrise on the Beach, 1913

American painter uses cool colors to set a mood. Quiet, but evocative. And moods open unexpected paths.

It’s less about what it shows you and more what it calls to mind.

Robert Wood, Bluebonnet Ranch, 1930s

Texas artist with a rolling field of flowers. Note the modern date.

Blurry technique can simulate fine detail over large areas. Too much data to paint, but if cued, the brain fills it in.

George Inness, Sunrise in the Woods, 1887

American painter captures the blurry vision and hazy depth of an intense sunrise through the trees.

Comes close to abstraction to get that odd mix of brightness and dark shadow.











Russians

The Russian painters continue to be a revelation. These guys are almost completely absent from the historical summaries - Russia somehow jumps from Orthodox icons to the IQ test of Constructivist atavists like Malevich. While in reality it was home to a vibrant tradition of the highest levels of skill and deep appreciation of land and people. Aivazovsky, Shishkin, and Klever are familiar, but they bring some new friends in this collection. What they all share is that feeling of life and energy bursting out from canvas. We're so glad to have found these guys. Needless to say, the entire history has yet to be written.

The Russians raise important questions for the Band's project. They've always straddled the line between "East" and "West" - quotes because these are arbitrary historical construct based on real historical data points. And we aren't being pedantic - mistaking classifications for reality is something the Band is dealing with in regular posts. Classify more precisely. The Russian oil painting techniques are basic Western ones. Ditto the styles. But there's a unique sort of quality - a visual "something" that distinguishes them as a group. It's why we set them next to another tradition - the Americans - that is similar in a lot of ways. Putting the groups next to each other lets you see the differences that are hard to put into words.

Ivan Aivazovsky, Sailing off the Coast of the Crimea in the Moonlit Night, 1859

The master of water with moonlit translucence.

The sky is striking, but how he captures the sea in different conditions is almost unbelievable.

Gavriil Kondratenko, Vesuvius 1897

Checking in on the Russians. Here’s the popular Vesuvius as a faint bur menacing backdrop to a piercing blue sea.

It seems real and distant - like a dream that you could step into.

Ivan Aivazovski, Dante shows the artist the unusual clouds, 1883

[Note: a repost, but a great picture.]

Ivan Shishkin, Beech Forest in Switzerland, 1864

Russian painter is very good at capturing the feel of his woodland settings.

The light playing off the trees at different distances gives this one a depth of atmosphere.

Ivan Aivazovsky, Jesus Walks on Water, 1863

Sunday with the master of water. Technical mastery supports the meaning.

Jesus illuminates the translucent waves, showing us that the light of God is the logos in the world.

Alexei Savrasov, Pond at Dusk, 1879

Haven’t looked at the Russians for a while. Here’s a symphony of subtle evening colors.

Russian painting is unique.It doesn’t all look the same, but doesn’t look like anything else.

Ivan Aivazovsky, Fishermen at Sunrise, 19th century

Bright hazy morning with the master of water as the sun burns off the early mist.

The sea is his usual bright translucence, but the air and light steal the show here.

Ivan Shishkin, Twilight, 19th century

Russian painter with a gift for woodland scenes captures the colors & lighting of the setting sun.

Shishkin had a way of painting pictures that feel like you could step into them.

Julius Klever, Christ Walking on the Waters, 19th century

Palm Sunday painting - a masterpiece by a Russian known for his texture and atmosphere.

The fusion of sun & halo visualizes the Logos connecting God & creation.

Ivan Aivazovsky, Brig Mercury after a Victory over Two Turkish Ships, 1848

The master of water’s last take on a famous Russian brig.

His clouds almost rival his light on the water as the Mercury rejoins the Russian fleet.