English IV, European V, Contemporary III

This collection of SocialGalactic art posts aims to start guiding readers towards knowing what to look for in a painting. Like any general interest, there are simple basics that can seem hard when you don't know any words or where to start. But once you have a few things to consider, it all gets less intimidating. One of the ways the beast system separated us from our culture was by making it grotesque and debased. But there's also the whole idea of "critique" - that art needs to tear down culture with atavistic zeal. Or sneering irony. But art gets its power from logos - truth in rhetoric is an emotional hammer. Think the beast system wants you to feel what you do when you see this?..

Jack Sorenson, The Homecoming, 2016


So let's learn to look at what it doesn't want us to see. And take back what it didn't want us to have. 

English

Consider what national traditions are. We've mentioned the delicacy of the English painters compared to the Americans and Russians, but what does that mean? Certainly not the emotional impact - English painters create deep emotional resonances. Hauntingly beautiful at times. It refers to the way the artists handle their materials. Do they paint with heavy, visible brushstrokes or fine, precise touches? The difference is more than a general look. Rough aggressive styles create emotional intensity with energy, while more delicate ones do it with quieter meditations. The line isn't always cut and dried. The word that gets used a lot is "picturesque", but art words are hard to define. Every artist is different - even a tight school like the Hudson River School or the Impressionists has really different personalities. So the words tend to refer to feelings or relative tendencies. And these are developed through experience.

So instead of telling you what's picturesque about English art, we'll just say it means "like a picture". Look at the paintings and see if you can see it. Grimshaw remains singular.

John Clayton Adams, The Meadow Pool, 1899

National traditions have different things they’re known for.

English landscape treats light & air with subtle delicacy - less dramatic majesty, more scenic tranquility. Picturesque.

Benjamin Williams Leader, Parting Day, 1883

The nostalgic ache for a place never seen is the pull of rootedness.

Building organic culture includes restoring connections to place. The opposite of atomized globalism.

Alfred de Breanski, Evening, Loch Earn, Ben Voirloch in the Distance, 19th century

Scottish landscape captures the unique quality of evening light.

It’s subtle - the more you look, the more impressive it gets.

John Atkinson Grimshaw, Moonlight, Wharfedale, 1870s

The master of moonlight’s take on the Yorkshire Dales.

The detailed foreground is minimized to give maximum space to the ghostly light of the misty landscape & sky.

Benjamin Williams Leader, A Relic of the Past, 1897

British painter with some faded heritage. His skill is seen in the ground, plants & sky.

If you’re not actively protecting & preserving what you have, you’re losing it.

Benjamin Williams Leader, The Thames at Streatley, 19th century

English painter is a master of tranquil landscapes with delicate light & air.

Diffuse overcast lighting is as subtly hard to capture as a blazing sunset.

Richard Doyle, The God Thor Drives the Dwarfs out of Scandinavia, 1878

Since the time has come for settling grievances, let it be known that history shows height supremacy has always been a plague on the West.

John Atkinson Grimshaw, Humber Dockside, Hull, 1882

The master of moonlight is really a master of night light. And the damp fog & coal smoke of the Victorian evening his muse.

This one’s a masterpiece of glow & reflection.

Alfred de Breanski, Snowdon from Llyn Lydon, 19th century

The Scottish Highlands have a distinctive look where weather changes quickly.

British artist with a moment when low-hanging clouds clear & the sun shines through

William Adolphus Knell, Moonlit Harbor, 19th century

British painter with a stark, almost haunting seascape.

He’s brought his color range almost to grayscale for atmosphere. Just the lights & a hint of green in the water.

Benjamin Williams Leader, A Lock on the Thames, Streatley
English painter is a master of delicate light & atmosphere. His work has a peaceful mood.
Cloudy skies are his strength - reflected here in the rippling water.










European

Once again, the Europeans show their diversity. Think of the Western tradition as clusters of circles within circles. There are general ideas about skill, quality, and beauty that all the artists share. But inside that general area, there are countless fractal subdivisions around national tradition, ideology, personal flair, talent, interest, etc. The European collection is a proxy for the complicated tradition that created it.

Try and spot some traits. Picturesque, romantic-style drama, direct vs. indirect light techniques are all here. The Band isn't interested in being the special boy who knows the things. We want to show other people how to see them for themselves.

Peder Mørk Mønsted, A Stream in the Forest, 1925

Pleasant woodland scene from a Danish landscape painter.

He’s good with subtle lighting. Here he catches that slight greenish hue that forest sunlight sometimes has.

Cornelis Lieste, Sunlit Landscape, 19th century

The Dutch tradition of landscape painting with dramatic expressive skies & open views lasted centuries.

It’s the bright reflection on the water that makes this one special.

Abraham Hulk, Sunset over a Calm Sea, 19th century

Dutch landscapes often have low horizons & expressive skies - makes a small country seem grander.

Delicate air & water from a painter who should have been nicknamed “The”.

John Lavery, Irish, Spring in a Riviera Garden, 19th century

More spring rebirth with an English painter.

Here, the thick streaky texture of the paint adds to the lush garden feel. An atmosphere flowing & bursting with vitality.

Petrus van Schendel, The Groenmarkt at The Hague, 1860s

Belgian painter captures different types of light in this night scene.

The light defines the space & pulls shapes out of darkness. And no looting or trashing anything.

Anders Askevold, Fjord Landscape with Figures, 1889

Norwegian painter with the natural wonders of his homeland.

He brings the clouds below the cliffs & the sparkling light on the water to capture a clearing morning fog.

Gioacchino la Pira, Sunset in Naples, 19th century

Artists like evening & morning for the lighting.

Italian watercolorist with the intense hazy light from the sun just over the water. It’s almost hard to look right at.

Alexandre Calame, Der Vierwaldstättersee (Symphony in Blue), 1855

Art transports moods as well as thoughts. Blues dominate to make a mountain lake seem even cooler & fresher.

A brief but refreshing pause from clown world.

German School, 19th Century, A Moonlit Mass
Sunday night with a mystical nocturne when the Church was more worthy of its responsibility.
Note the vertical from the clerical procession through the Gothic tower to the heavens.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Shepherd under the Trees at Sunset, 1853

There’s a particular quality to the last glimmers of the day.

This French artist captures that twilight feel when the world of fantasy seems closest.

Pererskirche Chapel Vienna Austria . Inspired from Uncle John’s Band Blog

Henri Biva, A Woodland Lake, 19th-20th century

How a view is framed is part of the impact. The bright, peaceful scene through the dark trees seems like a glimpse of another world.

More intimate & it inspires curiosity.








Contemporary

Even more eclectic than the Europeans - these guys are doing art and logos in a fully-inverted globalist Art! culture. There are no national schools - not in the sense of living traditions. The academies and art schools teach atomized expression. Critique culture and/or shout your experience -if the critiques and experiences are the right ones. No mastery of techne and definitely no logos. So real artists bypass the beast system and engage with tradition on their own. Style, inspiration, and subject vary, but all show logos and techne. See if you can spot influences.

Ideally, whatever art world there is in the world to come would throw their support behind this degree of creative breadth. That's how you reconnect nations with their cultural patrimony.

Amanda Houston, Brilliant Morning, 21st century

Contemporary beauty in art is important. Artists bypass globalist gatekeepers & point to the future. The real modern “revolution”.

This American works with pastels, with stunning effect.

John Hulsey, Moonrise Road

Simple classic American landscape from an unpozzed contemporary artist.

The style is pretty much realistic, but there is something slightly magical in the light and the colors in the sky.

Leonid Afremov, Misty City, 2010s

Anyone like palette knife painting? This contemporary artist is excellent.

It uses a little spatula instead of a brush - the smears are textured & the colors look a bit like stained glass.

Roman Bozkhov, Landscape, 2010s

Unpozzed contemporary Russian painter captures misty morning light near the water.

Nice to see the Russian sense of atmosphere and texture survived the 20th century. Culture can revive.

Jack Sorenson, The Homecoming, 2016

After wallowing in occult filth, a cleansing blast of logos.

Contemporary Western painter crushes with a vision of pure masculine fatherly love. This one’s on my list.

Becky Joy, Big Sky, 2010s

Contemporary American painter reminds us beauty is all around.

Artists travel to scenic places, but natural beauty is the logos of creation in material form. You can find it all over if you look.

Elspeth Young, Growing Light, 2018

Unpozzed contemporary artist nails Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro & angled light in a gentler figure.

Right down to the double meaning - the light that defines her form enlightens her mind.

Peter Ellenshaw, Ama Dablam-Lhotse And Everest,1982

Breathtaking mountain scenery from a 20th-century British painter.

Auction results are telling - even the beast system shows real-person level interest in beautiful art.

Roman Bozkhov, Landscape, 2000s

Good morning SG!

Unpozzed contemporary artist uses classic technique in fresh & original ways.

Traditions aren’t constraints. They’re tool sets, honed over generations to a razor’s edge.

Bart DeCeglie, Fourth of July
“Freedom” has been badly mangled. It’s culture, not policy.
American freedom balances implicit responsibility & being left alone. It’s felt, not taught. And the world isn’t clamoring for it.
Happy 4th 🎆

Anatoly Korobkin, The Bay on a Hot Summer Day, 21st century

Contemporary artist with a fresh perspective on summer heat.

Translucent colors of the water stand out. The boats give scale, but it would be stronger w/o them.

Vickie Wade, Night Ride, 2010s

Traditional contemporary American artist with basic human truths that all the world’s noise can’t alter.

It’s original, but not technically brilliant. The truth is what makes it beautiful.