Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was one of the most important artists of the German Romanticism movement at the beginning of the 19th Century. He was born in Greifswald on the Baltic Sea. His family were strict Lutherans. He was the sixth of ten children. His mother, two sisters, and a brother died when he was young. His interest in art was developed early, and he began to take drawing lessons at age 16. He met Ludwig Gotthard Kosengarten, a poet and preacher, whose works were metaphysical in nature. Kosengarten stated that the beauty of nature was related to the divine, beyond the perception of human senses. Kosengarten’s writings were a significant influence on Friedrich, and on the music of Franz Schubert among others. 

 

Friedrich studied art at the Academy of Copenhagen, where he was able to visit the Royal Picture Gallery’s collection of 17th Century Dutch landscape paintings. He was taught to paint in the Neo-Classical tradition, in which the object was to copy nature precisely. However, the popular literature of the era, Icelandic legends (Prose Edda) and The Poems of Ossian (1760) (Irish mythology), greatly influenced his developing artistic style. “Cross in the Mountains” (Tetschen Altar) (1808) (45” x43”) is considered Friedrich’s first work to abandon Neo-Classical style for Romantism. The Crucifixion is silhouetted on a mountain top against a dramatic pink and gray cloudy sky. Light coming from five sources penetrates the dark clouds to focus on the mountain top and the Crucifixion. An evergreen forest surrounds the mountain top, typical of Friedrich’s native landscape. Evergreens are symbolic of everlasting life.

Friedrich designed the frame of the altarpiece, which was carved according to his specifications.  At the bottom center of the frame, he placed the eye of God within a triangle surrounded by rays of heavenly light. At the left is a sheaf of wheat representing the bread of the Eucharist, and at the right are the grapes representing the wine. Above, five cherubs are placed among the palm branches. A single star is placed in the center. Friedrich intended the altarpiece to be a gift to the King Adolphus IV of Sweden in recognition of his part in resisting Napoleon’s attempts to conquer Sweden. However, Adolphus IV was deposed in 1808. Count von Thun-Hohenstein convinced Friedrich to sell the altarpiece to him for his castle chapel in Tetschen, Bohemia.

Friedrich exhibited the painting/altarpiece at the Academy in Berlin in 1810, where it received mixed reviews. Basilius Von Ramdohr, a conservative lawyer, art critic, and amateur artist, published a long article in Dresden, rejecting Friedrich’s use of landscape as a religious painting, calling it “a veritable presumption, if landscape painting were to sneak into the church and creep onto the altar.” Friedrich responded that his intention indeed was to compare the rays of evening sunlight to the Heavenly Father.

 

“Monk by the Sea” (1809) (43” x68’’) broke with all of traditional landscapes by eliminating everything but the small figure of a solitary monk within the vast panorama of land, sea, and sky. X-rays show that Friedrich had painted two boats on either side of the monk and a flock of sea birds in the sky, but painted them out. Reactions of viewers varied, but generally unfavorable. Marie von Kugelgen, an early admirer of Friedrich’s work, wrote to a friend about her reaction to the work: “A vast endless expanse of sky…still, no wind, no moon, no storm–indeed a storm would have been some consolation for then one would at least see life and movement somewhere. On the unending sea there is no boat, no ship, not even a sea monster…and in the sand not even a blade of grass.”

The German poet, writer, and journalist Heinrich von Kleist described the painting in 1810: “Nothing could be more somber nor more disquieting than to be placed thus in the world: the one sign of life in the immensity of the kingdom of death, the lonely center of a lonely circle…the picture seems somehow apocalyptic…its monotony and boundlessness are only contained by the frame itself.”

“The Monk by the Sea” and its companion painting “Abbey in Oak Forest,” depicting the burial of a monk in a ruined church yard, were exhibited together. Their purchase by Prussian King Frederick Wilhelm III surprised the critics. Friedrich’s venture into a new style of painting took hold.  The isolation and emptiness reflected for some viewers the results of Napoleon’s invasion of Germany. To those viewers, Friedrich’s paintings exhibited a patriotic image of contemporary Germany, diminished but not defeated. Friedrich was elected a member in the Prussian Academy of Art as a result of these paintings.

“The Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog” (1818) (38.5’’ x29”) is considered by art historians to be a masterpiece of the Romantic Movement. The single male figure, dressed in dark green and holding a cane, stands on a rocky outcropping that rises dramatically in the foreground of the painting.  Bearing a few green trees, jagged rocks pierce the fog. Two ridges are painted so they come to a point at the chest of the man. Mist-covered mountains and clouds stretch into infinity. Friedrich wrote, “When a region cloaks itself in mist, it appears larger and more sublime, elevating the imagination, and rousing the expectations like a veiled girl.” 

Friedrich most often employed the technique “ruckenfigur.” Figures are placed with their backs to the viewer, inviting the viewer to gaze upon the scene from the same perspective, but giving no suggestion of their reaction to the scene. Friedrich stated, “The artist should paint not only what he has in front of him but also what he sees inside himself.” Friedrich sought the spiritual and the divine.

The subject has often thought to be a self-portrait, because the figure with the red hair resembled Friedrich. He dressed the figure in altdeutsche (old German clothing), the clothing of Germany’s heroic age, 16th and 17th Centuries. A Nationalist, Friedrich supported a new more liberal government and wanted to abolish the rule of the German nobility. Nationalists wore the old German clothing as a form of protest. The trend was so threatening to the German nobility that altdeutsche clothing was banned in 1819.

Friedrich married Christiane Caroline Bommer, 19 years his junior, in January 1818. They had three children. The family lived a solitary life. Following his marriage, Friedrich often included a second figure in his paintings. “Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon” (1818-1825) (13” x 17.3’’) depicts two figures on a rugged hill top, their backs to the viewer. Critics generally refer to them as Friedrich and his wife. The man wears altdeutsche clothing, and the woman’s hand rests calmly on his shoulder. The couple stand close together, contemplating the full moon and the distant landscape. 

Friedrich places the couple under several evergreen trees, their branches forming a lacy pattern against the moonlit sky. The other major element in the painting, taking up half the hill top, is an ancient tree. Its roots, partially pulled up from the earth, are exposed and form hairy fingers. The wide-spread branches are bare. The tree lists to the right, but remains standing. Throughout the ages, the Moon has always been considered as feminine and a symbol of the cycle of the seasons and of abundance. The full moon completes a heavenly cycle, the time to prepare for the future. Friedrich’s painting communicates hope for the future.

Friedrich’s patrons included the Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich of Russia and his wife Alexandra Feodrovna. They visited Friedrich’s studio in 1820 and purchased several paintings to take back to St. Petersburg. Their continued patronage, and that of other Russian nobles, sustained the artist when the Romantic style began to go out of favor in the 1830’s. Friedrich suffered several major episodes of depression during his life, and was said to be the “most solitary of the solitary” by his friends. “Solitary Tree” (1822) (21.6” x28”), was one of two works commissioned by Joachim Wagener, a banker and an art patron. The works were to show a morning and an evening landscape. “Solitary Tree” depicts a beautiful morning as the sun rises over a country village. A large tree at the center of the composition connects the earth and heaven. The size of the trunk indicates the tree has experienced a long life. The lower branches still support green leaves, but the top branches are dead. Friedrich organizes the top branches as a reference to the image of the dead Christ on the cross. 

Under the tree, a shepherd leans on his staff and against the tree trunk. His flock of sheep graze quietly in the pasture. Like the dead branches of the tree, the artists inclusion of the shepherd and his sheep refer to the religious connections that Friedrich found in nature. The panoramic landscape beyond the tree contains a stream and stands of evergreens.  A small village is nestled to the left of the tree. Bright sunlit pastures and a mountain range spread out under an early morning sky. Hardly visible, a gray church spire stands to the right of the tree at the base of the mountains. The sun has risen over the distant landscape, but sunlight has yet fully to reach the solitary tree. The tree has weathered a long life and endures. 

Friedrich’s popularity declined during the last 15 years of his life as the Romantic style he helped to create was considered old fashioned. Throughout his life, he suffered from recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD). He had a stroke in1835 that left him partially paralyzed. He continued to paint, although his painting were smaller and often watercolors rather than oil. He died in 1840. An exhibition in Berlin in 1906 brought his work to the attention of expressionist painters including Bocklin, Kirchner, and Kandinsky, and to the American painters of the Hudson River School. When Hitler discovered Friedrich’s beautiful German landscape paintings, he declared Friedrich to be a forefather of Nazism. This unfortunate and inaccurate association caused a decline of interest in Friedrich. However, Friedrich’s reputation was restored in the 1950’s by the Surrealists, Abstract Expressionists, and a large number of international artists. Friedrich is now considered a painter of international importance.  

“I am not so weak as to submit to the demands of the age when they go against my convictions. I spin a cocoon around myself; let others do the same. I shall leave it to time to show what will come of it: a brilliant butterfly or maggot.” (Caspar David Friedrich)

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

 

  

 

 

Marc Chagall was in love. Chagall met Bella Rosenfield in Vitebsk in 1910. For him their first meeting was all it took: “Her silence is mine, her eyes mine. It is as if she knows everything about my childhood, my present, my future, as if she can see right through me: as if she has always watched over me, somewhere next to me, though I saw her for the very first time. I knew this is she, my wife. Her pale coloring, her eyes. How big and round and black they are. They are my eyes, my soul.” Bella’s response also was love at first sight.

Chagall returned from Paris to Vitebsk in 1914 to attend his sister’s wedding and to marry Bella, and then they would return to Paris. However, World War I began, and the Russian border was closed. Chagall painted “The Birthday” (1915) (32’’ x39’’) (MoMA) a few weeks before their wedding. His ecstasy is depicted as he flies into the air to kiss Bella. He is light as a feather. Bella reciprocates, her feet lift off the floor. Chagall chose the pure complementary colors of green and red to accentuate the couple. He often depicted Bella in a black dress with a white collar and, as he described her, with black hair and black eyes. Chagall brought Bella a bouquet of flowers, another item he often included in his paintings.

The composition of this painting was carefully crafted. A rectangular blue-gray cloth with a small black pattern covers a rectangular red and orange table with round spooled legs. A round cake, a glass, a round dish of red berries, and a small purse are placed on the table. A round black stool sits on the floor. Above the table, a window with a white shade echoes the white lace collar on Bella’s dress. Outside is a Russian street. At the right side of the painting a low couch is covered with a cloth that repeats the red and orange of the table. On the floor, a small green and yellow pillow with square patches echoes the green and yellow of Bella’s bouquet. On the wall above the couch a rectangular tapestry with a paisley pattern repeats the colors used in the painting, including the bouquet of flowers. A square black clock with a round face hangs above. A blue-gray patterned cloth hangs under a window. The shapes and colors are repeated across the composition. However, none overpower Bella and Chagall as they float in air.

Unable to leave Russia, Chagall continued to paint his beloved Vitebsk and the nearby villages: “I painted everything I saw. I was satisfied with a hedge, a signpost, a flood, a chair.” By 1915, he began to exhibit his work in Moscow, and several rich collectors purchased his art. For a time after the October Revolution (Communist take-over) of 1917, avant-garde artists were in the favor of the Communist government, since their work had nothing to do with classical art favored by the Czar. “Over the Town” (Lionza, near Vitebsk) (1918) (17.7’’ x22”) (Tretyakov, Moscow) depicts Chagall and Bella flying over Lionza. Chagall later wrote, “She has flown over my pictures for many years, guiding my art.” He described the experience as “flying with luck…You run to the screen, shaking under your hand, immersion brush. LASHES red, blue, white, black. You (Bella) draw me into a whirl of colors. And suddenly you take off the floor and pull me with you.”

Chagall was made a commissioner for the arts in Vitebsk. Among other accomplishments he founded the Vitebsk College of Art in 1923. However, feuds with the art faculty led him to move to Moscow. There he painted murals for the Kamerny Theater and produced sets and costumes for the plays of Jewish writer Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916). Chagall and Bella joined the many Russian avant-garde artists who moved to France as his art fell out of favor and conditions in Russia became more restrictive. They left Russian in 1923.
They lived in France until 1941. Chagall was courted by the Surrealist artists who based their art on Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), in which he discussed dreams and the unconscious mind. Chagall rejected their ideas stating, “If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.”
Chagall met Ambrose Vollard in 1923. Vollard commissioned a series of etchings of Nikolay Gogol’s novel Dead Souls. Chagall finished 107 full plate prints in 1931. Vollard then commissioned a series of prints based on the Old Testament. Chagall completed the set of 66 plates in 1939.

As anti-Semitism grew in Europe, and Hitler and the Nazi party came to power in 1933, Chagall witnessed a friend being assaulted on the street in Warsaw because he was Jewish. Chagall’s “Solitude” (1933) (40’’ x62.5’’) (Tel Aviv) portrays his strong fears. A solitary Jew, cloaked in a kittel (white prayer shawl), sits on the ground. His face shows despair. Chagall titled the painting “Solitude” to signify that Jews were in a lonely, uninhabited space. Solitude seems coupled with despair. The Jew is outside the town, rejected by society. He holds a torah, a hand written scroll containing the word of God to the Jews.

An upside-down fiddle is placed next to the Jew. The fiddle is one of the items Chagall frequently used as a reference to his childhood and Jewish traditions. Music was basic to Jewish life, and the fiddle provided the music that accompanied songs of the Jews. It reminded them of the failed revolution of 1905, led by the Jewish fiddler Sormus.

A kneeling goat is the third prominent figure in the composition. Its presence represents the Old Testament sacrifice by Joseph as the replacement for his son Isaac. A goat with a red ribbon tied around its neck was part of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), when Jews ask for forgiveness of their sins. The goat was released to wander, carrying the sins of the people with it (scapegoat). The last symbol is the white angel that flies through the stormy sky. Angels, heavenly messengers, were as common in Jewish history as they are in Chagall’s paintings. Chagall’s paintings at that time were intended to awaken society to the displacement and persecution of Jews.

On July 19, 1937, Hitler opened the exhibition of “degenerate art.” Twenty thousand works were confiscated from German museums by Joseph Goebbels. Fifty-seven Chagall paintings were confiscated. Several were included in the exhibition. “White Crucifixion” (1938) (61’’x55’’) (Chicago Art Institute) contained the images of Jesus, the Jewish martyr.

To Chagall, Jesus was a Jew when he was crucified, and his persecution was the persecution of Jews. Jesus wears a black and white prayer shawl (tallit) and a head cloth. At the foot of the cross is a menorah with six candles. According to the Torah, the menorah made for the original Temple of Jerusalem had six candles, representing the six days of creation. A seventh candle was included to represent the Sabbath, the day of rest. However, Chagall’s menorah has only six candles; there is no day of rest.

Jews flee in all directions from the site of the crucifixion. At the lower left three men flee: one bearded, one labeled Jew, and one carrying a Torah scroll. Above them is a boat loaded with refugees fleeing from their burning town. A troop of soldiers carrying a red Nazi flag rush into the scene. Above the cross three Biblical patriarchs and a matriarch wail and pray.At the lower right, a mother cradles her child, an unrolled Torah is left on the ground, and a green clothed man flees with his belongings. Above them a synagogue burns, its contents an Ark of the Covenant (to hold the Torah), and other furnishings are tossed on the ground. The door of the synagogue remains standing. Two rampant lions of David, a star of David, and the image of the Ten Commandments can be seen. Nazi flags fly in the upper right corner.

World War II began when Germany invaded Poland in 1939. Belgium and Poland were invaded in 1940. Chagall moved from Paris to Gordes in the south of France in 1940. However, the Vichy government under Marshall Petain, cooperated with the Nazis in oppressing the Jews. In 1941, the Vichy government stripped Chagall of his citizenship and arrested him. Along with 2000 others, the Chagalls were rescued by Varian Fry of the American Aid Committee. At the invitation of Alfred Barr, director of the Museum of Modern Art, the Chagalls came to New York.

Chagall arrived in New York City one day after Germany invaded Russia. Later, he learned Vitebsk was destroyed. When Paris was liberated in 1944, the Chagalls prepared to return to Paris. However, Bella died of a viral infection. Chagall did not paint for a year: “Everything went black before my eyes. I am lost.” Although Chagall would marry again, and have a son, Bella was forever his muse. “The Painter, the Bride and Groom” (1970-74) (39.5’’ x 32’’) features Chagall and his bride floating above the ground. A blue fiddler plays for them, and a small boy, his son David, stands beside the fiddler. The painting behind them depicts a room with the painter holding a little donkey. Chagall’s pet name for his daughter Ida was Little Donkey. A vase of colorful flowers sits on the table. The room has a window, a motif Chagall often used to represent freedom. At the lower left corner, a rooster, one of Chagall’s favorite animals, represents fertility. Chagall may be riding the rooster. The painting was sold a Christies in London for $1,670,256.80.

Chagall returned to Paris in 1948. He lived in France for the rest of his life, but his career as an artist was only half over. Next week’s article will feature the last half of Chagall’s life.
“The title ‘A Russian Painter’ means more to me than any international fame…In my pictures there is not one centimeter free from nostalgia for my native land.” (Chagall)

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

Conrad von Soest (c1370-c1422), a native of Dortmund, Germany, was one of the most significant artists of his time. The capital of Rhine-Westphalia, Dortmund was a prosperous city and as a member of the Hanseatic League. Founded by north German towns and merchants abroad, the League dominated commerce in Northern Europe from the 13th Century until the 15th Century. Conrad von Soest had a flourishing workshop, and he was a member of the elite social circles of Dortmund. Art historians credit him with introducing to Germany the International Gothic style of painting that had been developed by French and Italian artists.

The “Annunciation” (1403) (28.9’’ x23.8’’) (tempera on wood) is part of the large winged “Crucifixion Altarpiece” painted by von Soest for the parish church of St. Nicholas in Bad Wildungen. The left wing contains four scenes from the life of Mary, the large middle section is a scene of the Crucifixion, and the right wing contains four scenes of events in the life of Christ. The “Annunciation” is the first scene in the story. The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and delivers God’s greeting. It is written in Latin on the white scroll: “Hail Mary, Gracious One, the Lord is with you!” The International Gothic style that von Soest introduced to Germany is well represented. The setting is a lavishly decorated private chamber with embossed leather on the back wall, a decorative wooden roof, and green brocade drapes with fringe. Courtly settings, ornamental details, richly dressed persons, and rich colors and gold are components of the elegant International Gothic style.

Mary kneels at her prie-dieu (prayer desk) in the private chamber of her house. She reads from a book. To signify her intelligence, von Soest includes several other volumes on the wooden shelf behind her. A delicately wrought silver vase holds three white lilies, symbolic of the Trinity. However, the third lily is behind the curtain since Christ is not yet born. Hanging over the edge of the prie-dieu is a patterned cloth with a crest containing a tower and double eagles, symbols of Germany.
The scene includes the dove of the Holy Spirit and the gold winged angel Gabriel, who kneels beside Mary. Gabriel holds a staff bearing a crest with a fleur-de-lies (lily) on top. Mary, dressed in red brocade with a blue cloak lined in green, listens to the Angel’s message. Both figures wear gold halos, indicating their holiness. The figures are intentionally elongated to give them a royal presence, most clearly seen in their gestures and elongation of their fingers. Mary wears a red crown decorated with white pearls that spell her name, an unusual addition. Von Soest signed the painting on the underside of the page in the book that Mary holds.

The “Nativity” scene is next on the panel. Mary has given birth to the Christ child and holds him gently in her arms. As was typical of Nativity scenes, the baby was not ordinary, able to sit up by himself and respond as an adult to others. Although the scene is set in a stable, the roof is in unusually good repair. Mary has several pillows; one is red with gold crisscross braid. She is kept warm by a large red cover with a gold braid edge. The wattle fence separates her from an ensemble of red winged seraphim.

The ox and the ass/donkey are at the manger. The ox represents strength and service and is identified with the people of Israel. The ass/donkey represents pagans, those who will not accept Christianity. At the upper right corner of the scene, an angel announces to the shepherds that they should go to Bethlehem to see the Christ child.

Joseph, often portrayed as being asleep or at a distance in the Nativity scene, is placed prominently in the foreground. He blows on the fire as he prepares food for Mary. The Bible tells us that Joseph was a widower with children and much older than Mary. Von Soest has depicted him with white hair and beard.

The prominence of Joseph in the scene is tied to the German tradition of celebration on Christmas Eve, December 24. In the Middle-ages, German families gathered in their homes on Christmas Eve to wait for the first star to appear in the evening sky. This event meant Christ was born, and the family then could prepare and eat a feast.

The third scene “Adoration of the Magi” (1403) is set in an elegant Gothic Church, not in the stable. Mary wears the same red gown, blue and green cloak, and crown as depicted in the “Annunciation.” Joseph stands behind her at the left and holds a cane. The emphasis here is on the Magi/Kings. The oldest Magi kneels before Christ child and kisses his hand. His crown has been removed and set on the ground, a symbol that Christ is the new King. Elegantly dressed, the middle-aged and the young Magi look on with respect. Both carry gold vessels containing their gifts for the child. Of note are the heavy gold belts worn by two Magi.

When viewed close-up, the rich brocade painted by von Soest contains an extraordinary amount of detail characteristic of the International Gothic style.

According to the Law of Moses (Mosaic Law) the circumcision of a male was to take place eight days after his birth. In the “Presentation” scene, Mary has come to the Temple in Jerusalem to keep the Jewish covenant that a firstborn male was to be consecrated to the Lord. She offers the gift of two white doves, held in a basket by the woman dressed in red, to redeem her son. Mary holds the child and stands at the altar. The mohel (a Jewish person specifically trained to perform circumcisions) prepares to take hold of the child and perform the circumcision. He is well dressed in a gold and blue brocade gown. The red bag hanging from his belt holds the instruments of the circumcision. The blue peaked hat identifies him as a Jew, a common tradition in painting. The Christ child receives his name, Jesus.

In this scene, the Temple of Jerusalem has the round arches of a Romanesque church. Frequently, scenes of the early life of Christ use a Romanesque church to represent the old law of Moses, and as in the “Adoration of the Magi,” a Gothic church represents the new law. The four additional figures witnesses the circumcision; perhaps they are the donors of the altarpiece.

Von Soest’s “Crucifixion Altarpiece” remains in the parish church of St. Nicholas, Bad Wildungen today, and it is a tribute to the artist and his talent. Few works by von Soest remain, but those that have survived are as remarkable as they were in 1403.

Happy Holidays to one and all.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

The Englishman among the Impressionists, Alfred Sisley was born in Paris of English parents. Except for 1857 through 1861, when he was sent to London to study business, which he abandoned and then returned to Paris in 1861 to study art.  Sisley was a founding member of the Impressionist movement in1873, and he participated in most of their eight exhibitions. His specialty was landscape which he always painted in plein air. Several short trips to London to study the work of English landscape painters Constable and Turner convinced him to embrace nature as a theme for his paintings. When asked by Adolphe Tavernier, writer, art critic, collector and journalist, who his favorite painters were, Sisley mentioned the Barbizon landscape painters Corot, Millet, and Rousseau, and the Realist painter Courbet. Sisley referred to them as masters “who love nature and had deep feelings for it.”

It was not until the Impressionists started painting outdoors that paintings of snow became popular. “Early Snow in Louveciennes” (1870-71) (21.1’’ x 29’’) (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), was one of Sisley’s first paintings of snow. Painting in the Realist style meant that the color used was the perceived color of the object. As a result, snow was a thick layer of white paint applied to the canvas. Sisley followed the prescribed tradition and rendered an affectionate vision of Louveciennes–road, houses, people, trees, sky, and the village. Sisley moved to Louveciennes in 1871, and he found the town and its surroundings an endless source of subject matter. 

By 1872, the ideas of Impressionism were beginning to appear is Sisley’s work. In “The Frost” (1872) (18’’x 22.4’’) he begins to apply the recent scientific discovery that light, sunlight, candle light, fire light, do not contain the colors white or black. Natural light is the spectrum of colors in the rainbow: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Sunlight shining on white frost began to be represented by the colors yellow and orange on white. Shadows were not gray, but blues and purples. Sisley continued to depict the dark sides of the brown trees as black. However, his composition explored the play of the sun’s complementary colors.  The oranges of fall foliage are complemented by the blues and purples found throughout the composition. Sisley’s use of blues and purples has created the atmosphere of chill on this frosty day. His brushwork consists of dabs of paint that create a sparkle on the frost.  

   “The Road to Louveciennes, Snow Effect” (1874) (26.5’’x 36’’) fully embraces Impressionism. The village of Louveciennes is covered in snow. Viewers are invited to trudge through the snow, turn left, and walk with two figures who pass by the fences and fields of the rural village. Houses, large and small, appear in this panoramic view. Church towers reach into the sky. The day is sunny, and the snow glistens. Peace and well-being radiate from this blissful scene.

A similar Sisley painting “Effect of Snow in Louveciennes” (1874) was sold in 2017 at Sotheby’s for $9,064,733. Sisley’s paintings have become quite valuable.

Sisley’s ability to render all the seasons in all their variation is masterful. “Winter in Louveciennes” (1876) (23.25’’ x28.75’’) depicts a long cold winter when the snow lingers on the roof tops and in the trees. The atmosphere is thick with cold. The blues and purples are balanced against the browns of the houses. Mixing any of the six colors on the color wheel with its complementary color, orange with blue, red with green, or yellow with purple, produces brown. Sisley added small dashes of black where no light was available inside rooms and under roofs. The postures of three male figures dressed in black clothing with black hats let the viewer know that it is indeed cold.

“Snow at Louveciennes” (1878) (24’’x 20’’) (Phillips Collection, Washington, DC) is an example of Sisley’s continued fascination with nature and his local environment. Louveciennes is in the western suburbs of Paris between Versailles and Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Louveciennes and the near-by village Marley-le-Roi were home for Sisley and his family. In this later work, Sisley developed a style that combined Impressionist colors with the traditional use of black and white. He chose what worked on the day and the feeling he wanted to represent. Here, the snow is unmarked by footsteps. A lone woman wearing black walks toward the town in the background.

Art historians usually interpret Sisley’s winter scenes as relating to personal difficulties and struggles to take care of his family. “Solitary,” “empty,” and “bleak” are frequent descriptions of his paintings. However, if you enjoy the solitude of a snowy day, and find beauty and peace in a winter landscape, as this writer does, you will find Sisley’s winter paintings are exhilarating.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

 

“The Cathedrals of Wall Street” (1939) (50’’ x 60’’) (Metropolitan Museum of Art) focuses on the New York Stock Exchange. The building is painted in gold. Corinthian Greek Columns support the pediment, and a large gold curtain hangs as if on a stage, and is drawn back to reveal a gold medallion containing the portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Stettheimer, a strong supporter of New Deal programs such as Social Security and unemployment insurance, gave Roosevelt this prominent position in the composition. On the pediment above, she placed labeled portraits of Bernard Baruch, John D. Rockefeller, and JP Morgan, Roosevelt’s financial advisors who helped bring the Great Depression under control. Flags extend from either side of the Roosevelt medallion, and a length of ticker-tape in blue, white, and red is placed under his portrait. A stickler for accuracy, Stettheimer sent her lawyer to get a piece of ticker-tape from the parade which took place on April 30, 1939, the inspiration for the painting.

The 1939 parade celebrated the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington on April 30, 1789. Marching in from the left, the drum and bugle corps is led by a strutting majorette. They are followed by six uniformed service men carrying flags. Stettheimer requested information from the armed services to assure that their uniforms were correct. At the right of the Stock Exchange, a Boy Scout holds a flag; another plays the trumpet. Next to them, the woman wearing a flowing white and gold gown and presenting an American flag is Grace Moore, who sang the “Star Spangled Banner” at the ceremony. Moore, an opera singer and musical theatre performer, was known as the Tennessee Nightingale. Stettheimer had her hair done by Moore’s hairdresser in order to meet Moore.

Stettheimer placed the figure of Eleanor Roosevelt, who wears the long blue dress and carries a bouquet, in the center foreground. Stettheimer tried to meet Eleanor, but without success. The man in the black suit, who stands behind Eleanor, is Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. He delivered a speech at the celebration. Also in the forefront are a Marine in his dress blues and an American Indian in gold with a red, white, and blue feathered head dress.

At the upper left, white buildings are labeled US BANK, GUARANTY BANKERS TRUST NEW YORK and MORGAN & COMPANY. At the lower left, a red platform holds members of the Salvation Army. Two Salvation Army women sing “God Bless America” while a third accompanies them on the piano. Although the Great Depression was mostly over, Stettheimer recognized that people still are in need and the Salvation Army was there to WELCOME.

At the upper right, Stettheimer depicts two columns labeled BANKER and LAW. Running vertically down the columns are the words INSURANCE and MORTGAGE. Behind the pediment, in the New York Harbor, stands the Statue of Liberty. Beside and behind the Stock Exchange the gray stone tower of Trinity Church rises. Stettheimer depicted the exact location of the Church that can be seen at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway.

Stettheimer included the 1939 re-enactment of the 150th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration on the steps of the New York Sub Treasury Building. The large gold statue of Washington is Stettheimer’s stand-in for the person who played Washington in the reenactment. The New York World’s Fair opened on the same day, April 30,1939, in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. President Roosevelt invited Stettheimer to be present at the cornerstone laying for the Fair. The statue of George Washington, standing 71 feet tall, was the main feature of the World’s Fair. Visible in this detail are Trinity Church, the two Boy Scouts, and Grace Moore.

A charming self-portrait depicts Stettheimer, wearing a red dress and red stilettos and holding a large bouquet with a long ribbon bearing the inscription “To George Washington from Florine Stettheimer, 1939.” Although she was nearly 70 years old, she depicted herself as a young woman.

Of the four paintings in the series The Cathedrals of New York, “The Cathedrals of Art” (1942) (50’’ x 60’’) (Metropolitan Museum of Art) was the most personal for Stettheimer whose paintings had been included in over 40 important exhibitions in New York and Paris. The Museum of Modern Art is set at the left, the Metropolitan Museum at the center, and the Whitney Museum at the right. On the column between MoMA and the Metropolitan, Stettheimer labels their collections ART IN AMERICA. On the column separating the Metropolitan and the Whitney, she aptly describes the Whitney’s collection as AMERICAN ART.

Stettheimer includes at the Museum of Modern Art a Cubist style portrait, a la Picasso, of a lady in a green hat. The man wearing the black suit and sitting on a chair designed by Corbusier, is Alfred Barr, the first director of MoMA. On the first floor of the Museum, as if they were real people, are two running figures in white togas drawn from Picasso’s painting “The Race” (1922). Next to them is the yellow lion from Henri Rousseau’s “The Sleeping Gypsy” (1897). Just below, the man with red hair and wearing a gray suit, tries to escape from the Museum and the new modern art. On MoMA’s ceiling, the artist has signed her name backwards, next to the name of Picasso.

At the right, the Whitney Museum is represented by a red American eagle. Juliana Force, director of the Museum, is depicted with red hair and wearing a green dress. She stands in front of a gold statue of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Museum (1931). “The Cathedrals of Art” was the last in Stettheimer’s series and it remained unfinished on her death in 1944. She worked on this painting until a few weeks before her death as a result of cancer. Many of the specific details and finishes so important to this painting were not completed.

The Metropolitan Museum is placed at the center of the composition. The unfinished portrait of a woman in a black dress with a large white collar was a Queen or a 17th Century Dutch woman from the Met’s collection. The importance of the subject was emphasized by the red drapes on either side. A seated Egyptian statue and other works from the Museum’s collection are visible. At the top of the stairs, Francis Henry Taylor, the Met’s Director, holds the hand of a small baby with a gold halo, and hewogestures as if giving the child a tour of the Museum’s collection. Several other figures stand to either side of the red-carpeted stairs.

Alfred Stieglitz, the famous photographer, stands draped in a black cape at the bottom of the stairs. At the right side of the stairs, the critic Henry McBride wears a gray suit and holds two small flags with the words GO and STOP. A chauffeur, dressed in a red uniform, leans casually against the opposite pedestal.

The chauffeur watches the photographer George Platt Lynes, leaning in to photograph “Baby Art.” The flash of the camera and the spotlight held by Lynes’s assistant place the baby in a glow of light similar to that of the heavenly light in Nativity paintings. The baby represents the birth of new art. The image of the baby is repeated walking at the top of the stairs with Taylor.

Two distinct figures remain. At the lower left, a well-dressed man in a tuxedo leans against a Corinthian column. The banner at his feet contains the word COMPERE, the person who is responsible for introducing performers in a stage show. At the lower right corner, under a very elaborate white canopy with gold fringe, is Florine Stettheimer. She wears a white gown, red stilettos, and carries a bouquet. The banner beneath her feet declares she is COMMERE, a gossip. In traditional altarpieces, patron saints are placed at the left and right foreground of the scenes.
#5 “The Cathedrals of Art” (self-portrait of the artist)

Stettheimer was a notable salonniere, hostess of important writers, artists, philosophers, and intellectuals in discussions of significance. Stettheimer was also a poet. Crystal Flowers was published by her sister Ettie in 1949. Her paintings were clever and flamboyant, and always had something to say about the state of New York society. On her death in 1944, her close friend Marcel Duchamp organized a retrospective of her paintings at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It was the first retrospective of a woman artist at MoMA. The exhibition traveled to the San Francisco Legion of Honor Museum and Arts Club of Chicago. Stettheimer told her sister to give her paintings to museums, not to sell them. The Cathedrals of New York were given to the Metropolitan.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

   Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944) was one of two best-known women artists in America in the 1930’s; the other was Georgia O’Keeffe. Stettheimer was born in Rochester, New York, but her family spent time in Europe where she was able to visit all the great museums and study art. Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism, and Fauvism were her artistic influences, along with the ballets performed by the Diaghilev company in Paris. Returning to New York in 1914, she became involved with the New York art scene, the Harlem Renaissance, Dada, and the Jazz Age. Stettheimer lived with her mother and sisters in an up-scale apartment overlooking Bryant Park between 5th and 6th Avenues and 40th and 42nd Streets. The Stettheimers hosted salons (social and intellectual gatherings) and entertained writers, artists, musicians, intellectuals, and emigres. Among Stettheimer’s closest friends were Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, and Marcel Duchamp.

From 1929 until 1944, Stettheimer painted four paintings titled “The Cathedrals of New York.” She used the term cathedral in the non-ecclesiastical sense to include important centers of commerce and the arts.

Her artistic training in Europe and New York had been in the classical European tradition. However, responding to the excitement of the City, she decided to invent her own style to depict modern 20th Century New York. 

“The Cathedrals of Broadway” (1929) (60’’ x’50’’) (Metropolitan Museum) was composed as a theater set design. Stettheimer had designed several stage sets. The cathedral represented here is the new Paramount Theater that opened in November 1926. A gold and black arch decorated with the Paramount gold stars and winged figures support a white star. At the top of the arch is a black clock in an elaborate gold case with the word PARAMOUNT written in flowing script. The clock is topped with a crystal ball. Red curtains with gold fringe hang from the arch. The pillars supporting the arch contain classical marble sculptures in niches.  A red-draped door is set at the left, and a painting and EXIT sign are at the right. 

On stage, elaborate pink drapes set off a Classical Roman domed temple. Dancers dressed in pink perform in a circular formation around the temple, reminding the viewer of a Busby Berkeley chorus line. Other figures dressed in gold perform on the stage. A gold Wurlitzer pipe organ is at the left of the stage.

A newsreel of Mayor Jimmy Walker ready to throw out the first pitch in a baseball game plays on the movie screen over the stage. The Paramount presented both live shows and new talking pictures. During the Depression movies provided inexpensive entertainment for everyone. 

In the sky at the upper left, the names of two other Broadway cathedrals, the Rialto (1916) and the Mark Strand (1914), sparkle with neon lights. A green and white sign contains the words House of Talkies. The large red banner floats in the wind and declares Broadway 1929. What appears to be fringe at the bottom is the banner are the words Florence Stettheimer.

A large golden chandelier hangs from a frescoed ceiling at the upper right. The chandelier inside the theater was famous.  Depicted below are signs for the Roxy (1927) with three flags and the Capital (1919) theaters. Centered at the bottom of the painting is the red-carpeted theater entrance. Six uniformed ushers stand at the ready to show patrons to their seats.  Written on the red-carpet is the word Silence; the new talkies had arrived.

 

An African-American usher wearing a white uniform holds the theater door open for a well-dressed gentleman and his two lavishly dressed companions. Just behind them a red rope has been set up to keep the ordinary people back while the rich arrive. Although she was a member of the upper-class, Stettheimer was socially conscious, and she often pointed out in her paintings the reality of the times. Her paintings often contained in her witty but concerned way commentary on the social injustices of society.

A Caucasian valet in a yellow uniform ushers the wealthy couple to the ticket office.  A family stands at the ticket window. Stettheimer’s cathedrals were popularly called movie palaces. They were elegant, opulent, and an entertaining, experience for everyone. 

“The Cathedrals of Fifth Avenue” (1931) (60’’ x50’’) (Metropolitan Museum) depicts an elaborate wedding at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The Gothic pointed arch of the Cathedral is at the center of the composition. The wedding couple pose for a photo on a red carpet. Lavish weddings were a popular topic in the society section of the New York newspapers, with specific details expected by the readers. The bride, hardly visible enclosed in a frothy white gown, carries a bouquet of long-stemmed white lilies. The groom stands tall and proper in his tux. Two flower girls swing a garland. A mounted policeman halts the traffic on Fifth Avenue. The photographer in a tan jacket and tall leather boots is Arnold Genthe, a well-known photographer at the time. A young woman in a gold dress, sways delightfully, vying with the bride for attention.  

Inside the Cathedral, the families of the bride and groom stand to either side under a large red canopy. A priest in gray and gold vestments raises his hand to bless the couple, while a Bishop, with cross, mitre, and crosier, offers his blessing as well. Wedding bells ring out from the top of the Cathedral. 

Floating in the sky are the names of the cathedrals of Fifth Avenue, the shops where the couple have purchased the necessities for their wedding. At the left, Tiffany’s stands out. Above Tiffany’s is Hudnut’s, where the bride purchased face creams. Just below, fancy white letters in the shape of furniture spell out Altman’s, a furniture store. Stettheimer has depicted on the street below the ticker-tape parade, held on May 7, 1929, to celebrate Charles Lindbergh’s successful flight over the Atlantic Ocean.

In the sky at the right floats a red rose, its green leaves spelling out Thorley, a store where fine Staffordshire bone China could be purchased. The round white box is from Maillard, where chocolates could be found. Circling the box, in yellow letters, is the name of the famous restaurant Delmonico’s. An orange banner displays champagne in a cooler. A white heart-shaped balloon with lacey edges carries the name Sherry, a store where sugar candy could be found. A green awning bears the name Bendel’s, a department store for women. Under the blue awning labeled Tappe, wedding dresses are on display. The gilded figure of Nike, the winged goddess of victory, leads the horse of the equestrian statue of William Tecumseh Sherman, placed in the Grand Army Plaza in New York City (1903).

The bride and groom and the bridesmaids in pink pose under the red canopy. Two choir boys dressed in red and white cause a bit of mischief. The choir boy at the left may be adjusting the bride’s gown, but with Stettheimer’s usual wit, more likely he is trying to peak under her dress. The choir boy at the right is about to swing his censer at a dog trying to climb the steps, the owner attempting to control it.

Like Alfred Hitchcock, Stettheimer includes herself in her work. With her mother and sister, she arrives in a limousine for the wedding. The license plate contains the date 1931 along with her name.

Stettheimer loved America and she loved New York.

(To be continued next week) 

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

 

Katharine Cibulka (b.1975, Innsbruck, Austria) studied at the New York Film Academy (1999) and at the School of Artists Photography in Vienna (2000-01). She continued her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (2004-10) and received in 2010 her diploma in performance art.

Cibulka is a visual artist, film maker, and project developer for artistic and sustainable processes. She developed the project SOLANGE in 2016. The German work SOLANGE means “as long as.” The project was started to increase awareness of social injustice, gender injustice, racism, and other issues import to women. SOLANGE is a collaboration with Vivian Simburger and Tine Themel.  The purpose of placing SOLANGE art in public spaces was to generate discussion and dialogue toward overcoming prejudices.

AS LONG AS THE ART MARKET IS A BOYS’ CLUB, I WILL BE A FEMINIST (2018) was installed at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. The works are placed on the façades of buildings that are under construction or renovation. The pieces are created by weaving the cross-stitch message in bright pink tulle to cover the protective net on the scaffolding. Vienna’s world-famous Academy of Fine Arts was happy to fund the project since it had made gender equality a priority. Eva Blimlinger, Head of the Academy said, “It is the only university in Europe or the United States whose staff and student body is 50 percent female.” She continued, saying Cibulka’s project “helps raise awareness for the fact that the international art market itself is still pretty much dominated by men.” The sculpture that sits in front of the statement is of Frederick Schiller, who once stated that “art is a daughter of freedom.”

Cibulka reflected on her experience as a woman artist in an interview with Artnet: “As a woman in the art world, you still have a tougher job, especially when you become a mother like me…. As a middle-aged woman, you hardly stand a chance, especially if you have a family.” In 2018 Cibulka and her team created four other SOLANGE messages, two of which are AS LONG AS A GENDER EQUALITY STAYS A NEVER-ENDING BUILDING SITE, I WILL BE A FEMINIST (Innsbruck, Austria) and AS LONG AS POWER ENTICES MEN TO MISUSE WOMEN, I WILL A FEMINIST (Landek, Austria). 

 

AS LONG AS HE MAKES THE CASH WHILE I WORK FOR CHANGE, I WILL BE A FEMINIST (2020) is located in Tuchlauben, Golden Quarter, Vienna. On the web-site for Vienna Trip Advisor, the Golden Quarter is described as a “Luxury paradise in the heart of Vienna, Flagship stores of over 20 fine international brands.” The building under renovation sits between Louis Vuitton and Rolex.

AS LONG AS GENERATIONS CHANGE BUT OUR STRUGGLES STAY THE SAME, I WILL BE A FEMINIST (2022) (82’ X 82’) was installed on the north façade of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, on October 28, 2022, and it will remain on view until February 26, 2023. SOLANGE was commissioned by the members of the NMWA and the Share Fund.  It is Cibulka’s first work in the United States. SOLANGE messages are created from research of the local environment and community. For the NMWA message, an on-line survey was conducted asking women what was important to them. Cibulka was greatly influenced by the Dobb’s decision of the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, one of the considerations for the message.

Cibulka states that working on construction sites brings another set of challenges because workers at construction sites are traditionally male. “Our team of women insert ourselves into this sphere to work on equal footing with the guys. Together, we need to overcome every obstacle, a process that requires open communication, discussion, asserting ourselves, and a lot of compromise.” (NMWA website, 2022)

 

Throughout history, women have been responsible for spinning wool into thread, weaving thread into cloth, sewing cloth into clothes, and decorating the clothes. Cross-stitch is the oldest form of embroidery. Cibulka explains her choice of cross-stitch in in public spaces: “Playing with traditional roles and material is what makes the project so appealing to me.”

“We are a small team of women from a small country, and we have already achieved great things that we are very proud of. We have found a medium and language that speaks to a lot of people and hopefully makes them think with sensitivity, imagery, and a bit of ambiguity and wit that puts a smile on your face.” (NMWA website, 2022)  

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

English photographer Roger Fenton (1819-1869) was commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to photograph the Crimean War during 1855. Photography was in its infancy, but it had progressed beyond Daguerre’s first presentation of the Daguerreotype to the French Academy of Science on January 7, 1839.  His process produced only one direct positive, and it required up to 30 minutes of exposure. Frederick Scott Archer (1813-1857) invented the wet collodion process in1848 to produce a negative that could made into several positive images, and it required only two to three seconds of exposure. Collodion was the newly discovered sticky substance of gun cotton in ether, used as a medical dressing. The wet collodion process was used for the next 30 years and allowed photographers to travel and photograph everywhere.

The immediate cause of the Crimean War was the years-long conflict over the rights of British and French Christians and Roman Catholics and the rights of the Russian Eastern Orthodox Church to have access to the Holy sites in Palestine (Ottoman Empire). A second cause was Russia’s desire to expand into the Ottoman Empire, particularly to take the sea port of Constantinople. In 1853, Russia invaded the Ottoman Turkish principalities of Moldavia, Wallachia (Romania), and Varna (Bulgaria). Britain and France declared war in 1854 and bombarded the city of Odessa.

Roger Fenton was a lawyer who became interested in the newly invented photography and founded the Photographic Society of London in 1853. His work for the British Museum and Royal family resulted in his commission to photograph the Crimean War. Fenton arrived in March 1855 as the official campaign photographer. “Cossack Bay, Balaklava” (1855) (now Ukraine) depicts ships of the British fleet and the dock holding pens for cattle. Horses, baskets with supplies, and tents can be seen on the dock. The ship labeled “69” is the Albatross, recently arrived from Constantinople. Aboard was Mary Seacole (1895-1881) who set up a store and hotel for the British with food, drink, and medical supplies. In a letter home, Fenton said the port was like “the emptying of Noah’s ark.”

Fenton and two assistants brought with them from England a traveling darkroom. The photo wagon was a converted wine merchant’s wagon. The wagon was supplied with 700 glass plates and 5 cameras stored in 36 chests, along with tools, water, a stove, and Fenton’s supply of tinned food, trays, and dishes. The wagon was divided into a cooking area, a living and sleeping section, and a darkroom. Large black letters on the van read “photographic van.” Despite the signage the light color of the van made it a target for Russian fire.

In a letter to a friend in England, Fenton wrote, “As soon as the van door was closed to commence the preparation of the plate, perspiration started from every pore, and the sense of relief was great when it was possible to open the door to breathe even the hot air outside.” The wet collodion process required the glass plates to be coated with an iodide solution mixed with collodion and applied to the glass plate. Moving the plate around to coat it could be done outside. In the darkroom, the wet plate was dipped into a solution of silver nitrate and put into a view camera the size of the glass plate.  Outside, the plate was exposed by removing the lens cap for 20 seconds to 5 minutes. Back in the darkroom, the plate was removed from the camera and a solution of the liquid fixer, iron sulfate and acetic acid, was used to wash the plate and to fix the image. Water then was used to remove the developer. The plate was dried and stored until ready to be printed. Fenton made a few test prints while in the Crimea, but most of the negatives were transported back to England, and Fenton printed them there.

Allied Encampment on the Plateau before Sevastopol” (1855) is a photograph of the port of Sevastopol in the distance. It was the capital city of the Crimea and the port that held the Tsar’s Black Sea fleet. Fenton’s wet collodion camera limited his ability to take pictures during battle. His mandate from the Crown and the Manchester publisher Agnew & Sons, who financed the venture, stated that Fenton was “intended to illustrate faithfully the scenery of the camps; to display prominent incidents of military life, as well as to perpetuate the portraits of those distinguished officers, English and French, who have taken part in the ever-memorable Siege of Sebastopol.” The Victorians at the time did not want to see the bloody side of war. 

Vivandieres or Cantonniere, usually wives of non-commissioned officers, provided soldiers food and drink in addition to their rations. The women were dressed in a female version of the uniform of the regiment in which they worked. The wounded Zouave soldier and the Zouave soldier helping him were part of a Light Infantry regiment of the French Army. A short open front jacket, baggy pants, sash, and fez hat were the unique uniform of Zouave soldiers. Originally from Algeria, they gained in the early 19th Century the reputation as superior soldiers when they fought for the Ottoman rulers. In a letter to his wife, Fenton wrote about the posed photograph: “She is giving assistance to a wounded soldier. It was great fun the soldiers enjoyed it so much & entered so completely into the spirit of the thing.” Florence Nightingale made her reputation as a nurse during the Crimean War. However, she resisted having her picture taken and does not appear in Fenton’s work. 

“Lord Balgonie” (1855) is a photograph of Captain Alexander Leslie-Melville, the eldest son of the 8th Earl of Leven, a Scottish peer. Balgonie is standing in front of a sheet Fenton used for a backdrop. Many of Fenton’s photographs were of high-ranking officers posing on their horses or in their tents. Balgonie’s photograph is unusual because he is unkempt, his hair and beard are disheveled, and his stare is unfixed. He returned to Britain and died a few years later, thought to be the result of the hardships he had faced in the war. More recently, this photograph is considered to be the first portrait of shell-shock.

The Battle of Balaclava took place on October 25, 1854. It is better known as the charge of the Light Brigade, a reference to Tennyson’s poem of the same name. Fenton photographed the scene of the famous battle. Under fire at the time, he managed to take photographs of the scene from different points of view. This print shows more cannon balls, suggesting he may have added a few more to the scene. However, the photograph of Marcus Spalding in the photography van probably was taken shorty before they entered the valley.  Fenton wrote in a letter that he decided to take a picture of the van before it was destroyed by fire in the valley of death to preserve it as a memory. The title “Valley of the Shadow of Death” is a reference to the 23rd Psalm: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death….”

The charge of the Light Brigade was mounted by 670 soldiers. Approximately 100 were killed and160 were wounded. Approximately 375 horses died. Fenton’s photograph, although absent soldiers or horses, was powerful.

 

lWhen Fenton’s photographs were shown in England, a concerned British public prompted the formation of a committee to look into the conduct of the officers.  When the soldiers returned home, the British also learned more about the horrible conditions their soldiers had suffered. Members of the General Staff were criticized for living in relative luxury while the soldiers were suffering. Some were accused of leaving the battle before the end of the campaign. “Major Hallewell, his day’s work done” (1855) was one of Fenton’s photographs that brought this fact to the public’s attention. Fenton’s title “his day’s work done” was perhaps intended to catch the attention of viewers. Major Hallewell, having shed his uniform and weapons, reclines on the ground in front of his large tent, a servant pouring him a drink.

Fenton contracted cholera in June 1855, and returned home. He was allowed to lie on a couch while showing his photographs to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He produced 350 images.  The photographs were exhibited to help raise funds for returning soldiers. The exhibition Shadows of War: Roger Fenton’s Photographs of the Crimean War, opened at Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh Palace.  Fenton photographed architecture and landscapes until 1862, when he sold his equipment and returned to the practice of law. He died in 1869. 

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.