By Grace Day
Continuing Harvest Month our featured artist this week, George Inness, was masterful at creating breathtaking landscapes that worked to combine spiritual and physical nature. Often referred to as “the father of American landscape painting” Inness used light, color, and shadows to evoke powerful emotions. He drew his inspiration from The Hudson River School art movement that focused on landscapes influenced by Romanticism, as well as spiritualism.
Inness was neither an impressionist nor realist, his work combined these two styles in a transitional way that included both blurred and hazy elements with sharp and refined details. He is best known for exemplifying the Tonalist movement whose artists began using dark and neutral hues in landscapes. The use of grays, browns, and blues in these works were meant to emphasize the mood and shadows in the landscapes.
The pieces, to me, feel much like the fall days we have been having as of late. The air is getting crisper, the leaves are starting to change, and the slight overcast emphasizes shadows. I hope you enjoy these pieces by George Inness and that instead of being upset that summer is over you start to see the beauty in the cool, fall weather!
