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About George Inness
When James Thomas Flexner, American art historian emeritus, called George Inness the leader of "Native American Impressionism" (Mayor and Davis, 1977, p. xxiii), and declared that Inness and *Homer exhibited "Impressionistic practices" (Flexner, 1962, p. 243), he used the term loosely. Others, like Jackman (1928, p. 73) remark inaccurately that in Inness’s late works "his technique became delightfully impressionistic." This may be true, only in the way that some landscapes in Pompeiian wall painting are "impressionistic." Wilmerding (1976, p. 153) noted in passing that superficially, Inness’s work "approached French Impressionism, which he disdained. His landscapes were, by contrast, neither scientific, optical, nor transient, but rather shrouded in mist and mystery of an immaterial world." Highly critical of *Monet and French impressionism, Inness is usually associated with *tonalism, a movement that was regarded as the
American national style, even as late as 1900 (George Inness, 1994, 25). Moreover, Inness repudiated American expatriates as well as studies in Europe’s academies, and instead would have agreed with *J. Carroll Beckwith, who recommended "a wholesome, natural painter-like method of reproducing in an individual manner what is presented to us at home" (Beckwith, 1900).
Inness rejected impressionism, which he believed was a materialistic system that denied "the reality of the unseen" (Inness, 1879, p. 377). His art theory was largely indebted to Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), the Swedish scientist and theologian, who believed that everything in the natural world corresponds to the spiritual world (see Taylor, 1997). Sensual man, who believed only in what he could experience by sight and touch, corresponded to purely illustrative art: Inness cited Meissonier as a painter of literal appearances. In Cikovsky’s words (1965, p. 324), Inness believed that if the artist "can put aside what he knows, can forget about copying appearances, he achieves something more vital and valuable because he is more receptive to spiritual truths." Having grown up with the *Hudson River School tradition, undergone a transformation through Barbizon influence and *Corot’s lyrical vision in the 1850s, Inness developed his own poetic tonalist style in the following decade, when his religious and philosophical reflection intensified. In the 1870s, Inness experimented with various artistic directions, and recently, art historians have analyzed the abstract and "modernist" qualities of his late landscapes (Cikovsky and Quick, 1985).
Inness, however, was no more a friend to impressionism than was *Kenyon Cox. During his year in Paris (1874-75), Inness could have seen the first group of the impressionists, as well as works by *Manet and *Cassatt in the Salon. For Inness, the painters of the impressionist "school" mistook the material for the real: The Paris Impressionists a few years ago had so nearly succeeded in expressing their idea of truth, that only flat surfaces, the bounds of which represented, at some points, defined forms, appeared on their canvases. Everything was flat. But God’s truth is only made more evident by such error. . . . (Inness, 1879)
To conclude, a letter to the editor of the Tarpon Springs, Florida Ledger from 1884 proves that Inness was even more vehement in his rejection of impressionism. The painter wanted to make it clear that his work should not be labeled impressionist. Although Inness acknowledged that he desired to convey his impressions to the viewer, impressionism was only a fad, in his view: "For when people tell me that the painter sees nature in the way the Impressionists paint it, I say ‘Humbug!’ from the lie of intent to the lie of ignorance" (Inness, Jr., 1917, pp. 168-69). Boyle (1974, p. 229) pointed out that Inness insisted on rendering the solidity of objects with a consistent and logical spatial area, which was the attitude of most American impressionists. |
Paintings by George Inness
| Perugian Valley |
| oil on canvas: 15 1/2 x 24 inches |
| signed: lower left |
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