| George Inness stood in the forefront of the American Barbizon painters, whose
poetic style redirected the course of indigenous landscape painting during
the last quarter of the nineteenth century. During a pivotal European trip
in 1853–1855,
he became strongly influenced by his French contemporaries, especially Théodore
Rousseau, who worked in and around the village of Barbizon in the forest of Fontainebleu
near Paris. The subjectively painted landscapes of Inness and his peers interpreted
rather than recorded rustic views, their rich palettes, loose brushwork, and
inventive use of light evoking palpable atmospheric effects and, above all, a
strong sense of mood. This approach set them apart from the Hudson River school
artists’ detailed, tightly brushed transcriptions of nature. . . .
:: Sarah Cash, Bechhoefer Curator of American Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art |
Text excerpted from A Capital Collection: Masterworks from
the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
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