Category Archives: American Paintings

The Voyage of Life series, painted by Thomas Cole in 1842, is a series of paintings that represent an allegory of the four stages of human life: childhood, youth, manhood, and old age.

Childhood

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In the first painting, Childhood, all the important story elements of the series are introduced: the voyager, the angel, the river, and the expressive landscape. An infant is safely ensconced in a boat guided by an angel. The landscape is lush; everything is calm and basking in warm sunshine, reflecting the innocence and joy of childhood. The boat glides out of a dark, craggy cave which Cole himself described as “emblematic of our earthly origin, and the mysterious Past.” The river is smooth and narrow, symbolizing the sheltered experience of childhood. The figurehead on the prow holds an hourglass representing time.

Youth

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The second painting, Youth, shows the same rich, green landscape, but here the view widens as does the voyager’s experience. Now the youth grabs the tiller firmly as the angel watches and waves from the shore, allowing him to take control. The boy’s enthusiasm and energy is evident in his forward-thrusting pose and billowing clothes. In the distance, a ghostly castle hovers in the sky, a white and shimmering beacon that represents the ambitions and dreams of man.

To the youth, the calm river seems to lead straight to the castle, but at the far right of the painting one can just glimpse the river as it becomes rough, choppy, and full of rocks. Cole comments on the landscape and the youth’s ambitions: “The scenery of the picture–its clear stream, its lofty trees, its towering mountains, its unbounded distance, and transparent atmosphere–figure forth the romantic beauty of youthful imaginings, when the mind elevates the Mean and Common into the Magnificent, before experience teaches what is the Real.”

Manhood

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In the next painting, Manhood, the youth has grown into an adult and now faces the trials of life. The boat is damaged and the tiller is gone. The river has become a terrible rush of white water with menacing rocks, dangerous whirlpools, and surging currents. The warm sunlight of youth has been clouded over with dark and stormy skies and torrential rains. The trees have become wind-beaten, gnarled, leafless trunks. The fresh grass is gone, replaced by hard and unforgiving rock.

In the boat, the man no longer displays confidence or even control. The angel appears high in the sky, still watching over the man, who does not see the angel. Man must rely on his faith that the angel is there to help him. Cole states, “Trouble is characteristic of the period of Manhood. In childhood, there is no carking care: in youth, no despairing thought. It is only when experience has taught us the realities of the world, that we lift from our eyes the golden veil of early life; that we feel deep and abiding sorrow: and in the Picture, the gloomy, eclipse-like tone, the conflicting elements, the trees riven by tempest, are the allegory; and the Ocean, dimly seen, figures the end of life, which the Voyager is now approaching.”[3]

Within the painting Manhood there is a strong emphasis on the diagonal: in the rocks which jut up, steep and forbidding, and the river which sweeps downward, threatening to carry anything in or on it over the precipitous drop to the twisting and foaming rapids in the mid-ground. The extreme narrowness of the passage between the two rock face heightens the tension as the viewer tries to determine whether or not a small craft could navigate these tumultuous waters. In addition, evil spirits stare down from the dark clouds above.

It is only in the distant background that the viewer captures a glimpse of the horizon. This line, where the distant ocean meets the sunset colored sky, is the only horizontal line in the painting. Amidst the chaos and confusion of the wild scene in the foreground, one catches a glimpse of possible serenity. Cole has positioned this focal point just below and to the right of center. The combination of the lone horizontal and warm color in an otherwise dark and forbidding scene, beckons the viewer’s eye back again and again.

The silhouette of a gnarled tree trunk opposes the diagonals of the rocks and river, forcing the eye back into the scene. Here the twisted and rotting trunk is used, as it often is in Cole’s work, as a symbol for the savage (untamed) wilderness and all its dangers. The funnel-shaped cloud that appears above the tree leads the eye up into the forbidding clouds of the sky, over the top and to the left, where the downward arc of the clouds forces it back down again into the river.

Old Age

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The final painting, Old Age, is an image of death. The man has grown old; he has survived the trials of life. The waters have calmed; the river flows into the waters of eternity. The figurehead and hourglass are missing from the battered boat; the withered old voyager has reached the end of earthly time. In the distance, angels are descending from heaven, while the guardian angel hovers close, gesturing toward the others. The man is once again joyous with the knowledge that faith has sustained him through life. The landscape is practically gone, just a few rough rocks represent the edge of the earthly world, and dark water stretches onward. Cole describes the scene: “The chains of corporeal existence are falling away; and already the mind has glimpses of Immortal Life.”

Source.

Russell’s sense of humour and empathy for his subject-matter radiates from his paintings as pleasingly as do the clear colours of the high country.

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Charles M Russell:

American Painter, 1864-1926 American painter and sculptor. In 1880 he left his upper-class home in St Louis for Montana Territory. He worked briefly on a sheep ranch, spent two years as a hunter’s and trapper’s assistant and then became a cowboy. During his considerable spare daytime hours he painted, sketched and modelled small animal figures in clay (e.g. Antelope, 1915; Fort Worth, TX, Amon Carter Mus.). Although he painted a few exceptional oils and watercolours prior to 1900, the vast majority of his best work was done in the last two decades of his life. Typically the subject-matter centres around cowboy life (e.g. Wagon Boss, 1909; Tulsa, OK, Gilcrease Inst. Amer. Hist. & A.) and the Plains Indians, for whom he had great respect. The luminous Piegans (1918; Denver, CO, Mus. W. A.), with its depiction of the Plains Indians, is a reminder of the vastness of the American West. Russell’s sense of humour and empathy for his subject-matter radiates from his paintings as pleasingly as do the clear colours of the high country. His bronze sculptures (e.g. Buffalo Hunt, 1905; Denver, CO, Mus. W. A.) depict the same dramatic and tension-packed themes as his paintings.

Source.

In this video, VHS Manager of Educational Services William Obrochta examines the life of George Washington through paintings on display in the “Becoming Americans” gallery.

This depiction of George Washington (1732–1799) as commander of the Continental army was painted in the 1790s by Charles Peale Polk, who derived the image from portraits taken from life by his more famous uncle Charles Willson Peale.

Washington was keenly aware of physical appearance and paid considerable attention to both proper dress and proper demeanor. He said, “nothing adds more to the appearance of a man than dress.” Washington concerned himself with the buttons, trimmings, and all manner of details of his uniform. He even powdered his hair to enhance the sense of dignity.

Washington was as attentive to his demeanor as to his dress. Gifted with an extraordinary personality and presence, he knew how to project those qualities and make the most of them. It was by the force of that personality that Washington held together the Continental army in the face of overwhelming odds, limited enlistments, and shortages of materials.

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Original source.

Jerome Thompson’s genre paintings on rustic themes, which were immensely popular in the late nineteenth century, have received new attention recently. This revived interest focuses on the unusual distinction of Thompson’s landscape settings, which often dominate the pictures’ simple foreground scenes of rural work, play or dalliance. Thompson’s natural elements-meadows, mountains, sky-have great luminosity and tonal subtlety. They show a high level of technical sophistication.

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Jerome Thompson was born in 1814 to the Middleboro, Massachusetts portraitist, Cephas Thompson, who instructed only Jerome’s older brother in art. His father wanted Jerome to farm, and destroyed Jerome’s art work. In his teens, Thompson moved with his sister to Barnstable, Massachusetts, where he painted signs, ornaments and portraits. Daniel Webster is said to have been one of Thompson’s subjects, and in 1834 he painted the aging Abraham Quary, last of the Nantucket Indian tribe. In 1835, Thompson opened a New York City portrait studio.

His departure from portraiture came in 1850, when he exhibited a A Pic Nick, Camden, Maine (date unknown, Museum of Fine Art, Boston) at the National Academy of Design, earning membership and creating a demand for his work.

In 1852, Thompson went to England for several years of independent study. He continued to paint the integrated genre-landscapes that made him famous, but by 1865 he ceased exhibiting the originals. Lithographic reproductions ensured his continuing prosperity. Works like The Haymakers (1859, private collection) and Apple Gathering (1856, Brooklyn Museum) earn modern praise as outstanding nineteenth-century landscapes.

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