Embedded Files
10: A predisposition for the elegiac poetry of landscape (reflecting the trauma of the Civil War):
Leonard Ochtman
Spirit of Fall
If the Tonalist style is characterised by a dominant emotional tone, it is most likely nostalgia, daydreaming, sadness, and joyful memories during times of rest.
This emotional tone reflects the profound impact of the Civil War and the major changes that affected American society in the following decades due to rapid industrialisation and urban growth.
These feelings of loss, displacement, and a longing for a lost and more peaceful world are best expressed in a fundamentally non-narrative art (not having a clear storyline or programme) through poetry, metaphors, and unspecified references.
Therefore, Tonalism primarily focuses on landscape paintings, especially those depicting familiar farmlands and rural places, often at dawn or dusk.
These paintings show evidence of human habitation in the past, such as abandoned fields, old roads, and overgrown forests.
It is common for Tonalist landscapes to lack human figures, while the juxtaposition of remnants of human presence with the untamed wilderness is a recurring theme. This elegiac quality, similar to soothing poetry, was often praised in writings from that period.
For example, Charles de Kay commented on Leonard Ochtman's exhibition in 1898, stating that Ochtman's work evokes tender emotions and sympathy for nature's softer moods, capturing the beauty of different times of day.
Leonard Ochtman
Fall Meadow, ca. 1910
Leonard Ochtman
Spring Colors, ca. 1905
Leonard Ochtman
Greenwich, 1896
Early Aesthetic Tonalism works from the 1880s and 1890s were particularly successful in evoking post-Civil War feelings of poignant loss.
These landscapes filled with memories likely provided comfort for collectors. Franklin De Haven's Lakeside, 1885, presents a peaceful scene for contemplation, with detailed rocks in the foreground captivating the viewer's attention.
The calm surface of the lake, reflecting the viewer's contemplative mood, is surrounded by a hazy distant tree line that brings back memories.
Franklin De Haven
Lakeside, 1885
Similarly, Charles Warren Eaton's Forest Edge, 1904, with its banner-like branches, may have reminded contemporary viewers of worn-out battle flags at half-mast or nature's watchfulness over past horrors. In the forested hills of Connecticut, these paintings might also evoke the gradual regrowth of forests after farmlands were abandoned.
Charles Warren Eaton
Forest Edge, 1904
Other Tonalist works, such as Ben Foster's Autumn Road, c. 1915, and Charles Harold Davis's Autumn, 1910, convey loss through depictions of deteriorating homesteads, overgrown with young trees and collapsed stone walls.
These images resonate with those who couldn't return home to continue their family farms or who sought better opportunities in the west.
Ben Foster
Autumn Road, ca. 1915
Charles Harold Davis
Autumn, ca. 1910
Even a shore scene like William Sartain's Nonquit, 1910, conveys a sense of unfulfilled sadness through the arrangement of land forms and the interplay of light and shadow.
These paintings evoke timeless memories and the subjective experience of mixing present and past moments.
These fleeting visions, reminiscent of Proust's memories triggered by vague recollections, cast a captivating spell over ordinary events and places.
William Sartain
Nonquit, ca. 1900
Frederick Kost's Summer Shadows, c. 1910, and Southfield Marshes, Staten Island, c. 1895, evoke emptiness and solitude, allowing viewers to delve into their own melancholic memories.
Frederick Kost
Summer Shadows, ca. 1910
Frederick Kost
Southfield Marshes, Staten Island, ca. 1895
Charles Melville Dewey's Sunset, c. 1900, one of the few Tonalist works with a human figure, portrays a returning soldier, symbolised by a farmer with a hoe over his shoulder, gazing at a magnificent sunset.
This image represents the end of the day's work and the peaceful joys found in the enduring certainties of home and the hopes for a peaceful nation.
Charles Melville Dewey
Sunset, 1910
Summary
Summary
1. Tonalist art is characterised by emotions of nostalgia, reverie, melancholy, and joyous recollection.
2. These emotions reflect the trauma of the Civil War and the changes in American society due to industrialisation and urban growth.
3. Tonalism primarily focuses on landscape paintings, especially of farmlands and rural places, often at dawn or dusk.
4. These paintings often depict abandoned fields, old roads, and overgrown forests.
5. Figures are usually absent in Tonalist landscapes, emphasising the juxtaposition of human presence with the wild.
6. Tonalist art is praised for its soothing and poetic quality.
7. Early Tonalist works from the 1880s and 1890s evoke post-Civil War feelings of loss.
8. These landscapes provide solace for collectors and evoke memories of a more peaceful past.
9. Some Tonalist works depict decaying homesteads and overgrown landscapes, representing the inability to return home or seek better opportunities.
10. Tonalist art invokes melancholic remembrances and the subjective experience of blending present and past moments.
Page updated
Report abuse