Inside the Scenic Backdrop

My research on the New England landscape as told by artists and writers focused on two sources, the Hudson River School paintings of Thomas Cole and the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Of these two artists' works, I am particularly interested in Cole's painting The Oxbow: View from Mt. Holyoke, Northampton, after a Thunderstorm (1836) and Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850). Initial comparisons between these works revealed two very different conceptions of the New England Landscape. In the Scarlet Letter, the forest is a chimerical character whose appearance reflects the motives of the human beings who enter into it. For Hester Prynne, the woods represent a space outside the realm of societal control. It is here that she dares to remove her "scarlet letter" by casting the embroidered letter onto the forest floor. For Robert Chillingworth, the woods are the source and symbol of his devious nature. The shadowy forest provides the ingredients that Chillingworth uses to slowly poison Hester's lover, the Reverend Dimmesdale. These portrayals of the woods are important to the telling of the story of the Scarlet Letter; yet, they are familiar depictions of the woods as either good or evil, corresponding to human nature. Between these two poles, the character Pearl's "indistinguishable" nature allows for Hawthorne to reimagine the woods as a liminal space. For instance, through her play in the woods, Pearl transforms the twigs and stones into representations of the puritan elders with whom she retells her version of the Scarlet Letter. The woods become a tool for reimagining her own role within society. Of the three images of the woods which Hawthorne offers in the Scarlet Letter, Pearl's character and her experience of the woods suggest a critical framework based not on dualities, but on the playful transformation of existing materials. Pearl's interaction with the forest offers a new model for an art theory and practice that is both informed by and transformed by a natural landscape.

In comparison to the indeterminacy of the woods in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Thomas Coles' The Oxbow depicts the New England landscape with empirical certainty. Coles' richly painted landscape of the Oxbow river valley outside North Hampton captures every detail from the leaves on the trees to the texturing of the stones along the river. Coles' work combines his knowledge of botany with his study of European history painting to create a lush wilderness of mythical proportions. His goal as a painter was to depict the American landscape as having a rich history, as well as a profitable future. The viewer in Coles' paintings is in a position of control, situated high above the landscape, looking down into the valley; the viewer remains at a safe distance from the wilderness without delving into its shadowy realms. The point of view from which the entire panorama is visible suggests human beings are in a position of control over nature through the observational tools of science.

Although this conception of Coles' paintings is accurate and remains an important part of the discussion of his work, art historians, such as Barbara Novak in Nature and Culture: American Landscape Painting:1825-1875, have recently emphasized that Coles' paintings were also a response to the spread of industrialization beyond the confines of major cities into small New England towns. Novak argues that Coles' work could be reinterpreted as a plea for preserving the landscape, rather than exploiting it. The positioning of the viewer in Coles' painting The Oxbow high above the landscape remains a position of control, but perhaps with that control also comes responsibility. I am not interested in choosing between these two conceptualizations of Coles' work, but rather in that they present two conflicting views on how to design a utopian industrial center or pastoral retreat.

These conflicting views on Coles' The Oxbow resonate with current discussions about how to develop the woods of Western Massachusetts. For instance, in the town of Ludlow, Massachusetts, several generations of my family have worked in the same local factories that Cole feared would overrun the natural landscape. What remains of the surrounding forests is quickly disappearing as new housing developments are built. This moment in American history, similar to the time period just prior to industrialization, allows a brief window of opportunity to reconsider earlier attitudes towards the wilderness and to allow this information to change current attitudes about development.

In several previous works, I have adopted a similar approach to Coles' work by “repainting” sections of his landscapes in a new format. Coles' paintings are monumental in scale and vivid in color. When I repaint portions of these works, I transform them into small paintings that are portrait size and use only neutral tones. I typically use unbleached titanium paint which is normally used only used for underpaintings. The translation of these large works into intimate studies allows me and the viewer time to rethink how the landscape is portrayed in these works. This process also enables me to carefully reimagine and reconstruct the perspective of the artist at that time.