George Inness
United States, 1825-1894George Inness (1825-1894) was not formally trained as an artist but made frequent visits to Europe, which influenced the style of his work. He is best known for his later works, landscapes of deliberately unpicturesque subjects that he depicted with religious sentiment.
The Gleaners exemplifies this later style, depicting a mystical atmospheric landscape that expresses the spiritual in nature.
Consider how this work relates to the Gilded Age.
Did Inness use a lot of different colors or just a few?
Gray-green is the predominant color. Instead of using many different colors, Inness used variations of gray-green tones. This use of color has been labeled Tonalism.
Are the background and foreground clearly separated or do they seem to blend together? What makes them blend together?
The soft subtle definition of forms, lack of clear modeling, and a limited palette submerge the picture into the atmosphere.
What has the artist repeated?
The repetition of yellow-orange patches glowing from the setting sun leads the eye from the left corner of the painting to the larger standing figure.The repetition of trees also leads the eye to the standing figure.The repetition of blurry gray-green tones creates an ethereal atmosphere that envelops the image, unifying the composition.
Besides the field, where has Inness's lack of modeling created a flat silhouette-like appearance? The trees look more like silhouettes against the glow of the setting sun rather than carefully observed representations, don't they?
The flat-pattern like quality of this painting is typical of Inness's later period where he created a more aestheticized representation of nature. He is more concerned with creating a mystical scene meant to awaken the emotions than to paint a carefully observed representation of nature that would appeal to the intellect.
What do you look at first? The bright yellow-orange of the setting sun catches your attention, doesn't it?
The figures and landscape merge into the thick gray-green atmosphere, becoming subordinate to the intense glow of the setting sun.
What time of day is it? What mood does sunset evoke?
Inness liked to paint the most suggestive moments in nature: changes of the seasons, weather, and light.
Describe the activities of the figures in this painting. Do they seem to be involved in hard labor or do their activities seem light and peaceful? Why?
Inness created an idealistic scene that romanticizes the subject. The figures appear as floating images submerged in an ethereal environment. Lack of sharp defining lines and modeling creates a lightness that diminishs the impression of hard labor. The seated figure on the left and the setting sun emphasize the feeling of restfulness.
Click the highlighted title to compare Jean-Francois Millet's Gleaners to George Inness' The Gleaners. What is similar? Different? Are the moods of these paintings similar or different? Why?
Consider how this work relates to the Gilded Age.
Key Points:
The French Barbizon School influenced Inness' paintings. Barbizon school works are characterized by more subtle, intimate compositions; more informal pictorial constructions; a broad manner; a limited palette; less attention to detail; and a golden tonality that pulls everything together. How do these characteristics apply to The Gleaners?
As a means of suffusing religious feeling into the landscape, Inness departs from representation. His palpable brushwork declares that what you are looking at is a painted surface. How else does Inness show that this landscape is art rather than a depiction of reality?
New religious theories, specifically Swedenborgianism, strongly impacted Inness' art. Swedenborgians believe that the spiritual and physical exist together. The spiritual world has appearance, but lacks physical substance. Inness painted appearances. The brightness of the light and generalized diffuse light represent the spiritual being in nature. Harmony of color, tone, and form carries religious symbolism. How does Inness combine the spiritual and the physical in this landscape?
How does The Gleaners reflect a desire to escape the modern industrial age? As a reaction to the turbulence of the times (increased industrialization and urbanization, Post Civil War loss of innocence, and uncertainty caused by new scientific theories-Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer), in his later works, Inness preferred to focus on intimate landscapes rather than modernization and industrialization.
