George Inness

George Inness (1825-1894) was an American landscape painter whose career had several distinct phases, related in part to his religious enthusiasms. The works I like best come from his last, Swedenborgian phase, when he created paintings like this: Sunrise, 1887.

Inness was raised on a farm in Newark, New Jersey, an interesting thought, and pursued his artistic education through apprenticeships and the National Academy of Design. He was enamored of the Hudson River School and his early work resembled theirs; this is In the Berkshires, 1850.

In 1851, a wealthy patron paid to send Innes to Europe for two years. (That's what I need; I'm sure I could finish my novel if only a wealthy patron would send me to Europe.) While there he studied contemporary painting, especially the Barbizon School, artists including Jean-François Millet whose landscapes used images of peasant life or other everyday touches to get away from Romanticism. They also used rougher brush work and often left parts of their paintings deliberately sketchy.  Coast Scene, 1857.

Lake Nemi, 1857, but painted in Inness' old Hudson River School style.

Even more important than the art Inness studied in Europe was his conversion to Swedenborgianism. Emmanuel Swedenborg believed that every physical object corresponded to a spiritual reality, and he thought art should bring out these connections. Light was especially important to Swedenborg, representing to him the Divine spirit or radiance. So painters under Swedenborg's influence often focused on light, trying to bring out its divine qualities. The Valley of the Olives, 1867.

The Monk, 1873.

In 1885 Inness settled on a farm near Montclair, New Jersey, and he spent the last decade of his life refining his spiritual approach to painting. These are the works I love. Winter Evening.

Afterglow.

Sunset on the Passaic, 1891.

Niagara Falls, 1889. Notice that Inness has not tried to exclude the industrial background. This was in keeping with both his Barbizon School training and the teachings of Swedenborg, who believed strongly in the dignity of labor, including factory work.

Inness met psychologist William James and was impressed by James' interpretation of Swedenborg, according to which the universe is a stream of thoughts in the mind of God. The Home of the Heron, 1893. One could see these late paintings as an attempt to capture images from that stream of consciousness.

Home at Montclair, 1892.