Cotopaxi, Tanicuchi, Equador (Cotopaxi) - Frederic Edwin Church
Tanicuchi - Equador
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Estados Unidos
OST - 76x118 - 1855
The artists of the Hudson River School
ventured far beyond the New York region suggested in the name that was applied
to them. Here, for example, Frederic Church depicts Cotopaxi, an active volcano
in Ecuador. The tiny foreground figures suggest the insignificance of people in
comparison with the natural wonders that surround them: the volcano, the
waterfall, and the lush tropical foliage. A member of the second generation of
Romantic landscape painters, Church ranks among the most influential American
artists during the period between 1850 and 1875. As a youth, he studied with
Thomas Cole, one of the Hudson River School founders, and Cole’s renderings of
the Sicilian volcano Mount Etna may have provided inspiration for Cotopaxi.
More directly, Church conceived of this work following a visit to South America
in 1853, after which he depicted the cone-shaped volcano repeatedly for nearly
a decade. Painted at a turbulent moment in America’s history, before the
outbreak of the Civil War, Cotopaxi embodies Church's response to current
events. The smoldering volcano in the background carries portents of
destruction, and the palm tree—which does not exist on the actual site of
Cotopaxi—symbolizes both Latin America and the Garden of Eden. In addition to
containing inherent moralistic messages, awe-inspiring American Romantic
landscape paintings such as this one also served as documents of distant,
exotic sites in the era before photography and modern travel.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário