Frederic Edwin Church was born on May 4, 1826 in Hartford Connecticut. He passed on April 7, 1900 at the age of 73. (Bereading for pleasure. blogspot. com/… /Fredrick-Edwin-Church-Twilight) Frederic was a talented nature artist. He painted many beautiful scenes of the countries wilderness. The painting I have chosen to write my analysis on is “Twilight in the Wilderness. ” This painting was done in 1860 right around the civil war time period. At the same time peoples minds were set on manifest destiny.
Manifest destiny was the belief that Americans would own coast to coast in America and flourish in wealth by creating new jobs and using their new land to do so. Church’s intention, by painting these scenes of nature, was to draw more attention to the wonderful scenery and away from the monetary element of this new land. Although there have been many different opinions and views on his paintings, they all seem to point in the same direction of his views on “Nature” and the future of our great nation.
Now that I have given you a little history on Frederic Edwin Church and his painting “Twilight in the Wilderness,” I will give you my formal analysis on this painting. Based on what I have learned from the history of this painting I will elaborate on the attention to detail that Frederic has put into this painting. The first thing that I notice is the focal point seems to be the mountains in the background. The sky around these mountains is bright with yellow and white that fades away into the darker sky and dim landscaping.
The Review on Frederic Edwin Church: Art Report On Texture
... much more time to finish one painting. (Wikepedia the Free Encyclopedia. Frederic Edwin Church: Family. Web. August 15, 2012). Frederic Edwin Church died on April 7, 1900. ... feel as if they were actually there. In his painting, Twilight in the Wilderness, you can also see much visual texture. He paints ...
The forefront of this painting had dying trees and a broken tree stump. As the river flows away from the forefront, it gets smaller as do the trees and mountains. Attention to detail gets less from the forefront to the background. These things combined gives the painting depth. With the clouds and mountains rolling soft edges gives the viewer a sense of relaxation and comfort. But yet when you think of the history of the painting you can draw a different view. It is interesting that Frederic not only uses the normal colors of nature but, uses the influence of red, hite, and blue to illustrate the patronage of the time period in which it was painted in.
In conclusion I feel that the composition that Church uses in this painting gives his views in motion. In the forefront is dying trees. This shows the struggle that is occurring at this time. The skyline is red with water reflecting that color, an illustration showing the blood that is being shed. As the painting fades off from the forefront to the background the skyline clears up and gets brighter. This shows that his belief is that times will get better and the country will be beautiful once again.
