AWAKENINGS IN ART, A YEAR OF SUNRISES
Happy New Year! Art Circle continues with the theme of the sunrise to begin 2021! Among the artists featured are: German Romantic painters Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) and Carl Gustav Carus (1789-1869); another German Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841); American Hudson River School painter Frederic Church (1826-1900); and Frenchman Jules Tavernier (1844-1889) who was inspired by the landscape wonderland of Hawaii.
Caspar David Friedrich, Woman Before the Rising Sun, 1818-1820, oil on canvas, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
We turn not older with years but newer every day.
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Brilliant hues in the upper “sky”–suggestions of fields and mountains. The central figure is dramatically facing away from us toward the sunrise. I am impressed by ornate costume. I want to find out who she is and why she is there at sunrise. I think the Dickinson quote is perfect and for all of us 55 plus folks.
Daena Kluegel
Caspar David Friedrich, Countryside in the Character of the Bohemian Central Uplands (Giant Mountains), c. 1830-1835, oil on canvas, location unknown
Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering it will be happier….
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)
Learning about the art of an artist new to me is such a joy. There’s a lovely landscape in an area I have never seen before. The brilliant sunrise sky over the (giant) mountains is so warm and beautiful. Tennyson quotation is so perfect and fitting for the art.
Daena Kluegel
Carl Gustav Carus, Morning Peal (Old German City in Morning Light), c. 1840, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
T.S. Elliot (1888-1965)
The birds scatter when the bells peal at sunrise. The sky is alight! View of the roofs and steeples of the old city churches and buildings. I could imagine being there! Another “new” artist for me to enjoy. The T.S. Elliot quotation is so right for the new year!
Daena Kluegel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Morning, 1813, oil on canvas, Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been…
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
Light in the sky suggests dawn and sunrise–the giant trees in full leaf overshadow the human figures. Nature reigns! Yet another new artist to learn about and enjoy! Rilke quotation is so appropriate and especially at New Year.
Daena Kluegel
Frederic Church, Above the Clouds at Sunrise, 1849, oil on canvas, Private Collection
He who kisses joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.
William Blake (1757-1827)
Pinks, blues, purples, and brilliant yellows in the sky and clouds from the tops of trees. This scene is very peaceful. The Blake quotation is such lovely imagery.
Daena Kluegel
Jules Tavernier, Sunrise over Diamond Head, 1888, oil on canvas, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii
With a bound, the sun of a molten fiery red came above the horizon, and immediately thousands of little birds sang out for joy, and soft chorus of mysterious, glad murmurs came forth from the earth….
Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865)
Sunrise in the tropics. Brilliant color bursts out in the sky. In the distance is Diamond Head with vivid vegetation in the foreground. Yet another new artist for my enjoyment. And the Gaskell quotation is also a new source for me. I think that it absolutely works with this art!
Daena Kluegel
