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Lot Essay
In 1878, the painter George Inness wrote, "[The purpose of the painter] is to reproduce in other minds the impression which a scene has made upon him. A work of art does not appeal to the moral sense. Its aim is to instruct, not edify, but to awaken an emotion."
Beginning in 1884, Inness was able to achieve a complete synthesis of his innovative formal means and his goal of poetic expression. The central component of this synthesis was color, which he described as 'the soul of a painting.' Forms, on the other hand, though still based in the observation of nature, were softened by atmosphere and dissolved by light. Inness also began to emphasize the flatness of the painting surface; it became a geometric field across which the artist would arrange passages of contrast, accent, and repose.
The Pond, originally owned by Louis Ettlinger, a major collector of American paintings, has all of these elements. The scene is typical of the kind of cultivated landscape found almost anywhere along the Eastern seaboard. The fading hues of the foliage indicate that it is late autumn; the path to the pond is overgrown by a summer's growth, and the ground is strewn with broken twigs and decaying branches. At the same time, wildflowers still blossom under a shaft of sunlight that divides the painting horizontally, just as the central trees divides it vertically. Another burst of light reveals a building or group of buildings in the far distance, while between the two bands of light the pond itself lies in deepest shadow.
The painting is thus a sum of opposites--sunlight and shade, blossom and decay, even moistness and dryness, just as is the time of year--autumn--that it represents. All of these qualities, however, are merely suggested, evoked by a subtle variation of texture, brushstroke and value. The Pond reveals a landscape that evokes the patina of use and age, while conveying an aura of irreducible mystery.
This painting will be included in Michael Quick's forthcoming catalogue raisonn of the artist's work.
Beginning in 1884, Inness was able to achieve a complete synthesis of his innovative formal means and his goal of poetic expression. The central component of this synthesis was color, which he described as 'the soul of a painting.' Forms, on the other hand, though still based in the observation of nature, were softened by atmosphere and dissolved by light. Inness also began to emphasize the flatness of the painting surface; it became a geometric field across which the artist would arrange passages of contrast, accent, and repose.
The Pond, originally owned by Louis Ettlinger, a major collector of American paintings, has all of these elements. The scene is typical of the kind of cultivated landscape found almost anywhere along the Eastern seaboard. The fading hues of the foliage indicate that it is late autumn; the path to the pond is overgrown by a summer's growth, and the ground is strewn with broken twigs and decaying branches. At the same time, wildflowers still blossom under a shaft of sunlight that divides the painting horizontally, just as the central trees divides it vertically. Another burst of light reveals a building or group of buildings in the far distance, while between the two bands of light the pond itself lies in deepest shadow.
The painting is thus a sum of opposites--sunlight and shade, blossom and decay, even moistness and dryness, just as is the time of year--autumn--that it represents. All of these qualities, however, are merely suggested, evoked by a subtle variation of texture, brushstroke and value. The Pond reveals a landscape that evokes the patina of use and age, while conveying an aura of irreducible mystery.
This painting will be included in Michael Quick's forthcoming catalogue raisonn of the artist's work.