Episode 29: Nature’s Magnetism

Greetings, Art Lovers, and welcome to another edition of the Sight & Insight Podcast.

Well, as we all know Nature is very magnetic, and we aren't just talking about magnetic fields, from one pole to the other, repelling and attracting, but the strong draw that Nature, the great outdoors, exudes toward the plein air painter.

George Inness (1825-1894) Lake Nemi, 1872, oc 29 3/4 x 44 7/8 in. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of the Misses Hersey, 49.412

As that great artist, Aristotle, was heard to say, "In all things of Nature, there is something of the marvelous. Whether we are looking at the awe inspiring works of Frederic Edwin Church, who opened the eyes of the public to the great expansion of the American West - sights some Americans would never see for themselves - or the subtleties of nature portrayed by, say, George Inness, Nature exudes an allure - a captivatingness, that can mesmerize us. As Harold Speed once pointed out, trees in nature are much bigger than the imagination conjures up. From the macrocosm to the microcosm, Nature is all around us, seductive and enchanting, whether in a sprawling vista, or the urban grittiness of humanity's effect on the land. 

Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900) Niagara Falls, from the American Side, 1867, oc, 101 3/8 x 100 13/16 in. Scottish National Gallery, Presented by John S. Kennedy, 1887, NG799

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them. — Marcus Aurelius