A Moment's Respite: Autumn Oaks by George Inness
March 20, 2020 8:29 AM Subscribe
Set your cares aside to roam this deep landscape by George Inness, 1878 George Inness was an American painter in the 1800’s. He was a master at capturing that sort of atmospheric glow we see sometimes in the morning or the evening, or before or after a storm.
Inness was much influenced by philosophical and spiritual ideas, especially about nature and it’s connection to the divine. He was especially interested by ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist-inventor-philospher-theologian of the 1700s (a real genius, who had unique ideas about the spiritual essence of nature – and some pretty wacky one too). Inness was more into capturing the feeling of a place and time – something he might have deemed a spiritual or divine essence – than in depicting unique or well known places.
Inness was well respected, and had a long, successful career. He was the fifth of thirteen children in his family. His father was a farmer. He travelled widely and worked with many great artists of the time.
Inness was much influenced by philosophical and spiritual ideas, especially about nature and it’s connection to the divine. He was especially interested by ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist-inventor-philospher-theologian of the 1700s (a real genius, who had unique ideas about the spiritual essence of nature – and some pretty wacky one too). Inness was more into capturing the feeling of a place and time – something he might have deemed a spiritual or divine essence – than in depicting unique or well known places.
Inness was well respected, and had a long, successful career. He was the fifth of thirteen children in his family. His father was a farmer. He travelled widely and worked with many great artists of the time.
Oh, that's really quite lovely.
I've been losing myself in the Art Institute of Chicago website lately, especially the cityscapes collection. (They have a new Visit Us Virtually page.)
Online museums and artwork are one of the reasons I'm so glad to be alive now.
Thank you so much for posting this, ecorrocio!
posted by kristi at 9:17 AM on March 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
I've been losing myself in the Art Institute of Chicago website lately, especially the cityscapes collection. (They have a new Visit Us Virtually page.)
Online museums and artwork are one of the reasons I'm so glad to be alive now.
Thank you so much for posting this, ecorrocio!
posted by kristi at 9:17 AM on March 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
This is exactly what I needed.
(And omg, kristi, thank you SO MUCH. I can now spend some time with my favorite AIC work, The Annunciation. Not the same as standing there in life and letting it fill my field of vision, but I'll take it.
posted by kalimac at 10:01 AM on March 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
(And omg, kristi, thank you SO MUCH. I can now spend some time with my favorite AIC work, The Annunciation. Not the same as standing there in life and letting it fill my field of vision, but I'll take it.
posted by kalimac at 10:01 AM on March 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
A friend who works in the museum world sent a link to this "Ultimate Guide to Virtual Museum Resources, E-Learning, and Online Collections."
posted by PhineasGage at 12:05 PM on March 20, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 12:05 PM on March 20, 2020 [5 favorites]
Great resource, PhineasGage, though the Portal section is unfortunately missing the Smithsonian Collections Search page (a cross search of the Smithsonian collections from the various museums, archives and libraries).
posted by gudrun at 2:01 PM on March 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by gudrun at 2:01 PM on March 20, 2020 [2 favorites]
the Hudson River School was the fucking best.
posted by entropone at 3:29 PM on March 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by entropone at 3:29 PM on March 20, 2020 [4 favorites]
This is a good weekend diversion. It reminds me of a Peder Balke exhibition a few years ago at the Met. I think Wendell Berry's words are a good companion to this:
“The Peace of Wild Things”
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
posted by inkonmylar at 6:30 PM on March 20, 2020 [5 favorites]
“The Peace of Wild Things”
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
posted by inkonmylar at 6:30 PM on March 20, 2020 [5 favorites]
This reminds me a bit of Caspar David Friedrich's less heavy-handed compositions, such as "Die Grosse Gehege near Dresden" or "Sturzacker" or "Sonnenblick Im Riesengebirge" (speaking of magic hour light).
posted by msalt at 9:34 PM on March 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by msalt at 9:34 PM on March 20, 2020 [1 favorite]
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What I miss from physical museum tours that can't be virtualized are the really big canvases, which fill your field of view completely and you almost forget you're in a museum at all. The Louvre has a bunch of these: the ridiculous Wedding at Cana and the bus-sized Coronation of Napoleon chief among them -- but also less-zany works like Constable's "six-foot" paintings.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:05 AM on March 20, 2020 [1 favorite]