Walkway and Itinerants

An 11x14 pastel of Ogunquit from the Marginal Way, a walkway along the water's edge.  I did this one on pastelbord, a nice hard surface.

Isaac Levitan belonged to a group of painters called the Itinerants, because they exhibited throughout Russia in the second half of the 19th century.  They were seen as opponents of the official academy, since they depicted Russian genre scenes, history, and people including peasants.  Levitan seldom painted people, but his landscapes were accepted as depictions of the motherland, a beautiful idealized place, that contrasted with the general misery of the people.  However, Levitan's landscapes offer much more than scenes of the motherland.  If we look at the landscapes of Levitan's contemporary, Ivan Shishkin, we see pictures of the idealized motherland with tall pines and great forests, in contrast to Levitan's emotional power.  Closer to home, for a similar contrast, compare the western paintings of Albert Bierstadt with Winslow Homer's late Maine seascapes.

Rockport and Figures

This painting, which I've been working on for the last several days, is a view of Rockport. It's a 30x32 oil on canvas.  I may continue working on it.

One noticeable aspect of Isaac Levitan's paintings is that he seldom adds or includes human figures.  Compare his paintings to those of the fine painter, David Curtis, for example, who feels compelled to include figures.    For Levitan, nature carries or reflects all the human interest for the viewer.  Figures are unnecessary.

Full of Emotion

An 11x14 pastel of an early morning view from the Marginal Way in Ogunquit, Maine.

In my continuing pursuit of Isaac Levitan, I think I can appreciate his response to nature.  Levitan had a difficult life of only forty years.  His parents died while he was still a teenager.  He lived in severe poverty until he was in his late twenties.  He suffered from bad health in his adult years.  Twice he was expelled from Moscow, along with others, for being a Jew.  He was a melancholic, often depressed, even to the point of attempting suicide a couple times.  His view of nature was not unexpectedly full of emotion.  In nature he found some consolation because he could paint masterful landscapes to express his emotions.

The Earth's Breathing

Another pastel: an 11x14 on uart paper of a view in Ogunquit from the Marginal Way.

My quick survey on the Internet finds many people writing that Levitan was some kind of Russian impressionist just because he used some bright oil paint and knew what was going on in Europe.  But even a cursory look at the images of his paintings reveals that he had a different outlook on nature than Monet or Sisley.  He spiritualizes nature.  Light and dark have deep emotional resonances.  Vistas reveal yearning. There's nothing shallow about him.  Just look at how he painted trees.  And yet he still was a great colorist and a great composer of images.  The Russian book on Isaac Levitan that I mentioned in my last posting contains a summary in English.  The author, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Petrov, quotes an unnamed critic who sums up succinctly Levitan's relationship to nature.  He wrote: "...in his late years [he] 'tried to monumentalize the earth's breathing.'"

Another Pastel

Another pastel.  This time it's an 8x10 of another view from the Marginal Way at Ogunquit.  I've been thinking of doing a study of Isaac Levitan, the late 19th century Russian landscapist.  I just borrowed a book from the library.  It has great pictures, but it's in Russian.  I've always felt that if he were better known, he would be recognized as one of the great painters of the 19th century.  He is that, but just not that well known, since I think, most, if not all his paintings are in Russia.  Let me see what I can discover.