A Christmas Carol (1843) (title page of first edition)

Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol was published by Chapman and Hall in London in1843. The first illustrator John Leech created four hand-colored etched plates and four black and white wood engravings. His first illustration was “Mr. Fezziwig’s Ball” from Ebenezer Scrooge’s early life when he was in love and happy. By Christmas Eve, the first edition of 6000 books had sold out. Two new editions were sold out by the New Year. The story has never been out of print. The celebration of Christmas grew in popularity, and the Victorians developed new traditions.

Leech’s etching, the first appearance of the Ghost of Christmas Past, shows the jolly and rotund Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig leading the dance. Fezziwig’s annual Christmas parties were famous. Known for his generosity and kindness, Fezziwig has provided a feast for all. A fiddler plays music from the balcony. Fezziwig’s elderly mother sits with some children and smiles at the joyous occasion. A young couple enjoy a kiss under the mistletoe. Holly hangs    from the ceiling. 

”Marley’s Ghost” (1843)

In “Marley’s Ghost” (1843), Scrooge’s former partner who has just died is an unexpected visitor on Christmas Eve. Dressed in his burial clothes, Marley drags chains and weights, the penance for his sins. Scrooge, in his nightclothes, sits near a small fire, eating a meager dinner. Only one candle lights the room. Leech has depicted the candle flame as a ghostly light. Marley warns Scrooge of the sins they both have committed in their business, and he forecasts the arrival of three spirits that will visit before Christmas Day. Scrooge must mend his cruel and miserly ways, or he will end up like Marley.

The Ghost of Christmas Present” (1843)

Leech draws upon the popular image of Father Christmas for “The Ghost of Christmas Present” (1843). He wears a dark green robe with white fur collar and sleeves. The room is filled with hanging greens. His torch and the fire provide light and warmth. His robe does not cover his chest, and his feet are bare. He wears a holly wreath decorated with mistletoe atop his curly brown hair. Around his throne are a rabbit, plum pudding, sausages, hams, and assorted other meats. He has a bowl of warm punch ready to share with Scrooge. He says to Scrooge, “Come in! Come in! and know me better, man.” He smiles, his eyes twinkle, and his voice is welcoming. 

This image is one of the most popular in the story. The Spirit introduced Scrooge to another world. They first visit a flourishing market, where the rich are purchasing provisions for their feasts. The Spirit then takes Scrooge to a poor man’s house, and then to the home of his nephew, Fred. Every year the kindly nephew invites Scrooge to the party, but he never attends. They visit the home of Bob Cratchit, Scrooge’s poor clerk. Scrooge learns about tiny Tim and that he will not live long. The Ghost repeated Scrooge’s own words to him, “If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

“Ignorance and Want” (1843)

The theme of the woodcut “Ignorance and Want” (1843) was for Dickens a main element in A Christmas Carol. The Spirit shows Scrooge two starving, and poor children. Scrooge asks, “Spirit, are they yours?” “They are Man’s,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!  Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And bide the end!” “Have they no refuge or resources?” cried Scrooge. “Are there no prisons?” said the Spirit, turning on Scrooge for the last time with his own words. “Are there no workhouses?”

Dickens was born into the middle class. His father was a spend-thrift. He squandered the family money and was committed to debtor’s prison. Dickens was forced to sell everything. His interest in the poor was established as a result, and he visited several locations where children were forced to work in intolerable conditions. He intended A Christmas Carol to send a moral message and to expose the dire circumstances created by the Industrial Revolution. He wrote letters, gave speeches, and fought to address the deplorable conditions of children in as many ways as he found possible.

“Bob Cratchit and tiny Tim” (1878)

Dickens enlisted artists to create additional images for the early publications of A Christmas Carol.  The black and white illustrations by Fred Barnard (1846-1896) are thought to be superior to the work by earlier artists. Barnard called himself the Charles Dickens among illustrators. “Bob Cratchit and tiny Tim” (1878) was another of the popular Dickens’s images. Bob Cratchit carried tiny Tim all over town, but particularly to church. His devotion to Tim was noted by everyone, young and old, rich and poor. A young boy with his dog delivers a large platter with the Christmas bird. A wealthy woman looks askance at the poor old woman. Her well-dressed daughter looks at an urchin who reaches out her hand. The young girl discretely hands the poor child a coin. The city of London is the backdrop. The distant clock tower resembles Big Ben.

“The Last of the Spirits, The Pointing Finger” (1843)

In Leech’s “The Last of the Spirits, The Pointing Finger” (1843), the Spirit 

of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to a graveyard. Scrooge implores, “Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point, answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or they the shadows of things that May be, only?” The Ghost points downward to the grave. Scrooge responds, “Men’s courses will fore-shadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they may lead. But if the courses be departed from, the end will change. Say it is thus with what you will show me!” Dickens wrote, “Scrooge crept toward it, trembling as he went, and followed the finger, read upon the stone of neglected grave his own name. EBENEZER SCROOGE 

“Cratchit and the Christmas Bowl” (1843)

Leech’s illustration “Cratchit and the Christmas Bowl” (1843) presents a changed Scrooge. He shares a drink with Bob Cratchit. Dicken’s text reads: “A merry Christmas, Bob! said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-shuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!” 

Have a Dickens of a Christmas

Note: Quotated material is drawn from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. 

1 Samuel 7, during the end of the time of the judges, Israel experiences revival under the leadership of Samuel. The nation repents of their sin, destroys their idols, and begins to seek the Lord (1 Samuel 7:2–4). Samuel gathered the people at Mizpah where they confessed their sin, and Samuel offered a sacrifice on their behalf (verses 5–9). (1 Samuel 7:13–14). To commemorate the divine victory, “Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us’” (verse 12). Ebenezer means “stone of help.” From then on, every time an Israelite saw the stone erected by Samuel, he would have a tangible reminder of the Lord’s power and protection. The “stone of help” marked the spot where the enemy had been routed and God’s promise to bless His repentant people had been honored. The Lord had helped them, all the way to Ebenezer.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.

George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879) is a well-known American painter of jolly boatmen who transported furs and other cargo on rafts along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. He also painted several portraits. He is lesser-known as a politician and soldier. His political paintings convey his strong belief in Democracy with all its flaws and that slavery was immoral and a threat to the future of the Union.

He was born in Augusta County, Virginia. When the family lost their mill, they moved to Missouri. Bingham was educated by his mother. He was mostly a self-taught painter. By age nineteen he was painting portraits for $20; by age twenty-two he supported himself with his art. He opened his first studio in 1838 in St. Louis. He moved to Philadelphia to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, but he remained there only for three months before moving to Washington, D.C., where he studied with Benjamin West and Thomas Sully from 1840 until1844. Bingham married his first wife, and they moved in 1845 to Arrow Rock, Saline County, Missouri. Their home is now a National Historic Landmark.

“Canvassing for a Vote” (1852)

Bingham became involved with politics as early as 1840, during the race for president between Martin Van Buren and William Henry Harrison. Over the next several years he painted six canvases in his “election series.” “Canvassing for a Vote” (1852) (25”x31”) (Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO) is one of the earliest. In front of the Arrow Rock Tavern, in his hometown, Bingham poses five men, a sleeping dog, and a horse’s rump, all within a triangular composition. 

The candidate wearing a top hat, explains his position to the city gentleman with the cane, the country gentleman smoking his corn cob pipe, and the worker in the leather apron. The fifth man turns his back on the conversation; either he does not care, or he opposes the candidate’s thinking, or he could represent those who felt disenfranchised. These attitudes were prevalent at the time. Historians and art critics suggest that the sleeping dog may represent voters’ lack of enthusiasm, or the attitude toward the issue of slavery by the Missouri Legislation: “Let sleeping dogs lie.” One other idea has been proposed, that the approximate placement of the head of the candidate and the horse’s rump may represent Bingham’s estimation of politicians. Nevertheless, he knew the value of democracy, even with its flaws.  Bingham ran as a Whig for the Missouri House of Representatives in 1848. The initial count resulted in three votes in his favor. He lost the recount and suspected vote tampering. He ran in the following year and won by a large margin.

“Stump Speaking” (1853-54)

“Stump Speaking” (1853-54) (43”x58’’) is a depiction of a politician trying to persuade a group of Missouri citizens to vote for him. The three figures dressed in white form a wide triangle. They are Bingham’s key to the painting. The Stump Speaker represents the current issues to be decided, and he reaches out to the crowd. The Outstanding Citizen, as Bingham refers to him, wears a white suit and top hat, and he sits across from the Speaker. He leans forward, one hand on his hip, and listens to the Speaker. He represents the past, and he is rigid is his opposition. The future is represented by the young, bare footed boy in the white shirt. He sits at the front of the composition. Both hands in front of him, his finger points into the palm of the other hand as he counts some coins. 

The group of citizens includes men, women, and children of various ages and means. All are white. They surround the Speaker and sit or stand in natural positions. Bingham includes several portraits. The Stump Speaker resembles Erasmus Sappington, Bingham’s opponent in the previous election. The older, rotund figure wearing the green jacket resembles Meredith Marmaduke, the former governor of Missouri. The figure next to him is a self-portrait of Bingham, head down as he takes notes. 

“The County Election” (1852)

“The County Election” (1852) (38”x52”) was the first painting in Bingham’s election series. Male citizens of all ages gather at the polling place. The inscription “The Will of the People, The Supreme Law” on the blue banner represents the artist’s belief. The scene is set outdoors in the light of day so that everyone could witness the vote. At the top of the stairs, the man in the orange shirt swears on a Bible that this is his only vote. Behind him on the stairs, the man tipping his top hat may be offering a bribe to the next voter. At the bottom of the stairs to the left, another man in a top hat drags a limp man, possibly drunk, toward the stairs so that he can vote. At the far right a drunk sits hunched over, his head bandaged, perhaps suggesting that elections could result in violence.

Behind the drunk, two men read a newspaper The Missouri Republican. When Bingham made a print of the painting, he had the title changed to The National Intelligencer to appeal to a broader audience. At the left front of the work, a man sits and drinks beer. Votes bought by liquor were common in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Two boys play mumblety-peg with a knife. With splayed fingers, the boys stab between them as quickly as they can without cutting themselves.

“The Verdict of the People” (1854-55)

“The Verdict of the People” (1854-55) (46”x55”) was the last painting in Bingham’s election series. The crowd gathers in front of the courthouse to learn the election results. Bingham’s usual set of characters include farmers, laborers, politicians, and immigrants. However, he has included women and African American slaves. The African American pushing a wheelbarrow is prominently placed in the left foreground of the painting. The presence of women is not as obvious. White and African American women look on from a balcony at the top right. None has the right to vote.

“The Verdict of the People” is a depiction of two prominent issues in the 1854 election. Herman Humphrey’s book of 1828, Parallel between Intemperance and Slavery, explored the idea that alcohol and slavery were linked. The American Society of Temperance had been founded in1826, and the idea of abolishing alcohol was taking hold in several states by the 1850s. Bingham’s views were always anti-slavery; however, he considered abolishing alcohol to be wrong.

Bingham sent his election series to Washington, D.C., with the hope that the Library Committee of Congress would purchase the paintings. He wanted Americans to see his work and understand his ideas. The Library Committee of Congress did not purchase them. Bingham then lent them to the Mercantile Library Association in St. Louis, Missouri.

Abaham Lincoln was elected president in1861. Bingham was on the side of the Union during the Civil War; he fought and raised troops. The government of Missouri declared itself against slavery. The governor appointed Bingham to serve as Missouri State Treasurer in 1862. After the Civil War, Bingham was appointed President of the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners. He became the first Chief of Police. He never stopped painting.

“To the beautiful belongs an endless variety. It is seen not only in symmetry and elegance of form, in youth and health, but is often quite as fully apparent in decrepit old age. It is found in the cottage of the peasant as well as the palace of kings.” (George Caleb Bingham)

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.

American artist Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was the son of Bostonians Charles and Henrietta Homer. She was an amateur watercolor painter and Winslow’s primary teacher. His youth was spent mostly in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he graduated from high school. His artistic talent was obvious. Apprenticed to a Boston commercial lithographer, he produced numerous sheet music covers and advertisements. He established a free-lance career by 1857 that resulted in an offer of employment from Harper’s Weekly. Instead, he opened his own studio in Boston.  He said, “I have no master, and never shall have any.”

He moved to New York City in 1859 and attended drawing school in Brooklyn. Harper’s Weekly commissioned him to draw images of the Civil War, and he was assigned to Major General George B. McClellan. Homer’s oil paintings of the Civil War invited him to membership in the National Academy of Design. He received full membership in 1865, including the exhibition of one of his Civil War paintings. The painting was also exhibited in the International Exhibition in Paris. Homer visited Europe in 1867, and he was able to observe the French Barbizon landscape paintings.

“A Fair Wind” (“Breezing Up”) (1876)

“A Fair Wind” (“Breezing Up”) (1876) (24”x38”) (National Gallery of Art) was exhibited during the American Centennial. After Homer returned to Gloucester, he began to paint American scenes of life along the Atlantic coast. Originally titled “A Fair Wind,” meaning smooth sailing ahead, the painting presented a positive, optimistic, and hopeful view of America’s future. The catboat, named the Gloucester, is steered by a young boy holding the tiller, rather than the older man in the boat. The boy steers toward the horizon, and the future. By adding the anchor, Homer further represents security and hope.

When “A Fair Wind” was shown at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, it was recognized as a positive expression of America’s future. Henry James, the writer, and Homer’s good friend, was critical of the painting: “We frankly confess that we detest his subjects…he has chosen the least pictorial range of scenery and civilization; he has resolutely treated them as if they were pictorial…and, to reward his audacity, he has incontestably succeeded. There is no picture in this exhibition, nor can we remember when there has been a picture in any exhibition, that can be named alongside this.”  The National Gallery of Art purchased the work in 1943, and “Breezing Up” became the commonly used title of the painting. The Gallery describes the painting on its web site as “one of the best-known and most beloved artistic images of life in nineteenth-century America.” The United States Postal Service issued in1962 a commemorative stamp to honor Homer with the image of “Breezing Up.”

“Clear Sailing” (1880)

By 1873 Homer had begun to use watercolor for sketches of subjects for finished oil paintings. “Clear Sailing” (1880) (8”x11”) (Philadelphia Museum of Art) is one of his pencil and watercolor sketches. In the summer of 1880, Homer lodged with the lighthouse keeper at Ten Pound Island, located in the middle of Gloucester Bay harbor. He observed the sailing ships, small boats, and all the activity associated with a busy harbor. Homer included a fully rigged ship in the distance. His view from the light house offered a closer look at ships and boats. Three young boys sit and stand on the beach and enjoy watching the scene.  A sea gull soars across the sky. 

“The Life Line” (1884)

“The Life Line” (1884) (29”x45’’) is a depiction of another side of life along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Homer and others who lived on the coast witnessed the dangers of ocean voyages. Immigrants, visitors, and cargo were at the mercy of the restless sea. Many stories of shipwrecks were reported in the newspapers. The wreck of the ship Atlantic in1873 that carried 962 people, resulted in the loss of 562 passengers and crew. Homer witnessed the newly invented breeches buoy system that was first employed in 1883 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to safely transfer people to shore.

In the painting the storm rages, the waves are intense, and a woman is held tightly in the breeches buoy by a strong male figure. The woman’s windblown red scarf centers the composition and provides a bold contrast to the treacherous dark green and white waves. “The Life Line” is a depiction of the American male hero saving the life of the helpless woman. This type of story was popular in the 19th Century. Homer painted this work after seeking out eyewitnesses and hearing their accounts of the events.

Homer had witnessed new life saving methods while he was in England, and he brought information about them to America. The United States was unique in organizing beach patrols and using new lifesaving techniques. The exploits of the new American heroes, the coast guards, were illustrated in several publications after 1878. “Life Line” was exhibited for the first time in 1884 at the National Academy of Design in New York, and the painting was immediately purchased for $2,500.

“The Gulf Stream” (1899)

Homer spent several summer vacations with fishing fleets in the Bahamas. He spent time near Florida, Cuba, and the Caribbean. He painted “The Gulf Stream” (1899) (28’’x49’’) (Metropolitan Museum) during his first trip to the Caribbean in 1885. “I painted in watercolors three months last winter at Nassau, & have now just commenced arranging a picture from some of the studies.” A boat, its mast broken, floats rudderless on the restless ocean. Homer wrote, “I have crossed the Gulf Stream ten times & I should know something about it.” A single negro lies on the deck, described by Homer as “dazed and parboiled…and the sharks have been blown out to sea by a hurricane.” 

Homer sent “The Gulf Stream” to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1900. He sent the painting to the National Academy of Design in 1906; the members of the academy jury wanted the Metropolitan Museum to purchase the painting. Newspaper reviews were positive and negative. One Philadelphia newspaper critic wrote that people were laughing at the “Smiling Sharks.” Another called attention to the “naked negro lying in a boat while a school of sharks [are] waltzing around him in the most ludicrous manner.” In response to concern expressed about the outcome of the story, Homer said, “You can tell these ladies that the unfortunate negro who now is so dazed & parboiled, will be rescued & returned to his friends and home, & ever after live happily.” The Metropolitan Museum purchased the painting that year.

“After the Hurricane” (1899)

“After the Hurricane” (1899) (15’’x21’’) (Art Institute of Chicago) was one of Homer’s finished watercolors. It is not clear if this work was painted before or after “The Gulf Stream,” but it depicts an event resulting from a hurricane. Whether the negro in the wrecked boat is dead or alive is not certain, but the devastation caused by the hurricane is evident.

On the weekend of November 1 and 2, 2024, Chestertown will celebrate Down Rigging and enjoy the glory of the tall ships docked in our harbor. 

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.

Autumn began on Sunday, September 22 this year. In Greek mythology, Persephone, the daughter of the goddess of the harvest Demeter, had returned to live in the Underworld. She had been abducted in the Spring by Hades, God of the Underworld. In response, Demeter stopped everything from growing on Earth until she found out where her daughter had been taken. She appealed to Zeus and Aphrodite on Mt Olympus and a bargain was reached. Persephone would live in the Underworld for half the year and with her mother on earth for the other half. This myth explained why they Earth was bountiful in Spring and Summer, and barren in Autumn and Winter.

“View of Mt Washington from North Conway, New Hampshire” (1860-65)

“View of Mt Washington from North Conway, New Hampshire” (1860-65) (14”x19’’) was painted by Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902). He was born in Germany but immigrated with his parents to New York when he was two. As an artist, he was a member of the Hudson River School. He went on several expeditions to explore the western territories to California. Bierstadt always was interested in representing the seasons and the time of day in his work.  An avid outdoorsman, he also found opportunities to include animals in his painting. Fall foliage dominates this painting, with three cows quietly drinking from the lake, and Mt Washington’s peaks clearly visible in the distance. The setting is a calm Autumn day with no rain, no rainclouds, and no wind. All of Bierstadt’s paintings were landscapes, and all evidence his strong feelings for the America’s landscape.

“Autumn Oaks” (1873)

“Autumn Oaks” (1873) (21”x30’’) by George Innes (1825-1894) represents work during the middle of his career. Born in Newburgh, New York, he became interested in art at an early age. He studied at the National Academy of Design in the mid-1840s, and traveled to Europe and was inspired by French art from the 17th Century through the Barbizon school of landscape painting. He was member of the Hudson River School. “Autumn Oaks” is typical of his middle style with dramatic clouds and strong coloring. Innes’s autumn trees range in type and color from fiery orange, bright yellow, and green turning to brown. Cattle graze, with a bull in the foreground watching over them. A farmer is harvesting hay in the field at mid-ground. Sunlight streaks across the scene in several places and draws the viewer’s attention into the distance. Threatening dark clouds roll in, while five white birds fly through the clouds. Innes has caught the intensity of colors that precede an Autumn storm. 

“Lake George, Autumn” (1927)

“Lake George, Autumn” (1927) (17”x32”) is by Georgia O’Keeffe. She and Alfred Stieglitz spent the Summer and Fall seasons at the family estate in Lake George, New York, from 1918 until 1934. The 36-acre estate was located by a 30-mile glacial lake. She had her own studio where she could paint in peace and quiet. Georgia painted several scenes of Lake George. “Lake George Autumn” was a departure from her usual approach, because she eliminated the lake shore and included only the essentials. A practice she continued for the rest of her career. Her painting approaches the abstract with the use of bold color shapes for the autumn trees, the deep blue for the glacial lake, and the bold orange for the distant mountains. 

In a letter in 1923 to the writer Sherwood Anderson, O’Keeffe described her emotions concerning her work: “I wish you could see the place here–there is something so perfect about the mountains and the lake and the trees. Sometimes I want to tear it all to pieces–it seems so perfect–but it is really lovely–and when the household is in good running order–and I feel free to work it is very nice.”

“Fall Plowing” (1931)

“Fall Plowing” (1931) (24’’x39’’) is by Iowa born painter Grant Wood (1891-1942). He was one of three American Regionalists, including John Steward Curry and Thomas Har Benton, whose style was popular from the 1930s until the1940s. The panoramic scene begins with a walking plough and a steel ploughshare, used by Midwestern farmers at that time. Plowed fields are ready for new planting. Already harvested fields and wheat stacks cast shadows across already harvester fields. Simply designed yellow and orange Autumn trees are dotted over the landscape of rolling green fields that lead to a small red barn and white farmhouse. The composition is formed by diagonals that are painted with simple hard edges. The day is sunny. Regionalism became popular in the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl in the 1920s through the mid1920s. The three midwestern artists wanted to illustrate life on their beloved prairie, with its good and bad aspects. 

“Fall Plowing” hangs in the John Deere headquarters in Moline, Illinois. John Deere, a blacksmith from Grand Detour, Illinois, invented in 1938 the walking plough made of molded steel. At that time, the farmers rejected the metal plough because they thought the metal would reduce the fertility of the soil, encoumraging growth of weeds.  Wood’s painting illustrates that farmers came to use and appreciate the metal plough. 

“Corn Shocks in October Sunshine” (1954-59)

“Corn Shocks in October Sunshine” (1954-59) (30”x40”) is a watercolor by Charles Burchfield (1893-1967). Born in Ashtabula, Ohio, Burchfield was an American modernist whose paintings reflected his sensitivity to nature: its sights, sounds, colors, times of day, and seasons of the year. 

He assimilated all these images into his own vision of nature. This watercolor depicts not only three corn shocks but also the yellow and white energy radiating from the field and the corn shocks. Two ears of corn and three blue flowers are placed in the foreground to create a triangular composition. Green is repeated on the flowers and on the edge of the distant road. Hazy fields lead to distant trees and sky. Burchfield keeps viewers’ attention on the grain stacks. He recorded his thoughts in a daily journal: “An artist must paint not what he sees in nature, but what is there. To do so he must invent symbols, which, if properly used, make his work seem even more real than what is in front of him.” 

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.

Internationally known artist Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) grew up in Baumgarten, a town near Vienna. His father was an engraver of gold and silver items, a occupation that made a strong impression on Gustav. Klimt studied at the Vienna College of Applied Arts, where he excelled. He and other students were assigned mural projects in newly built private and public buildings on Vienna’s Ringstrasse. When Klimt was teenager he and fellow artists began painting wall and ceiling murals in the villa built for Empress Elisabeth and in the Art History Museum. He was awarded the Emperor’s Prize for his murals in the auditorium of the Burg Theater in Vienna (1887-88). Klimt’s early paintings were influenced by art of ancient Egypt up to the Renaissance. Many were paintings of young semi-nude females representing allegorical figures. They were considered by some to be too sensual, but Klimt’s reputation grew.

“Judith I” (1901)

The art of Vienna was moving into a new phase known as the Vienna Secession. The young artists of Vienna, like others in major art academies in Europe, were rejecting the old Academy style and embracing a new and different style. When the Vienna Secession was started in 1897, Klimt was elected its first chairman. “Judith I” (1901) (34”x17”) is an example of his more decorative style, known as his “Golden Style.” The decorative gold frame was designed and made by his brother who was a goldsmith.  The subject is Judith and Holofernes, the Old Testament story of the beautiful Jewish woman who cut off the head of Holofernes, the general who was about to destroy her town. It was a popular subject for artists from the 17th Century onward.

Klimt’s figures are more sensual as a result of the gold leaf used to create the background pattern. Judith wears a diamond choker and diaphanous gown with gold patterns. Judith’s eyes are almost closed, her mouth is open, and she shares an ecstatic moment with the viewer as she presents the head of Holofernes.  

The model for Judith was his life-long lover Emile Floge (1874-1952). She was the sister of Helene Floge, who married Klimt’s brother in 1897. Klimt had many affairs during his life, resulting in six children, none with Emile. They did not live together, but the affair continued until Klimt’s death in1918. Emile modeled for many of his paintings. On her own, Emile was a fashion designer and proprietor of a popular women’s clothing store in Vienna. She provided the Viennese avant-guard with elegant fashions in the new style.  

Klimt visited Ravenna, Italy, in 1903, and he fell in love with the golden Byzantine mosaics in the 6th Century Church of San Vitale. He described the mosaics as being “of unbelievable splendor” and a “revelation.” His golden mosaic frieze decorated a room in the Vienna Secession building for the 14th exhibition. Titled “Beethoven Frieze, the work” was 7 feet tall and 112 feet long. He used gold paint, stucco, mirrors, and mother of pearl. The gold mosaic style also was used in painting the dining room walls of the Vienna Werkstatte (workshop) (1905-09) and three walls of the dining room of the Villa Stoclet in Brussels (1905-11).  

“The Kiss” (1908)

Klimt was incredibly prolific. He managed to paint many individual works despite his heavy schedule of commissions. The subjects of “The Kiss” (1908) (71’’x71’’) are considered by many art historians to be Klimt and Emile, locked in a passionate embrace. His unruly black hair is crowned by green leaves, resembling ivy, and his hands embrace her face. Her hair is decorated with flowers. She turns her face to his, eyes closed, waiting for the kiss. One of her hands circles his neck and the other holds on to his hand. Her face, shoulder, elbow, and feet are painted in flesh tones. Both figures are encased in a gold, patterned robe. His side is decorated with a variety of black rectangles representing maleness. Her side is decorated with circular patterns representing the female. Klimt made her gown partially transparent by creating a different set of circular patterns with bouquets of flowers and using the patterns to elongate and outline her back and buttocks. The couple kneel on a bed of individually painted flowers on bright green grass.

“Adele Block Bauer” (1907)

“Adele Bloch-Bauer” (1907) (55.1”x55.1’’) was one of Klimt’s last works in his “Golden style.” The painting was called the Austrian “Mona Lisa.” Klimt was a popular portrait painter among the new Jewish bourgeoise. Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925) was a salon hostess and patron of the arts. 

This portrait is considered a masterpiece of his style. Adele’s large, dark eyes, blushing cheeks, and red lipstick are sensuous. The unusual position of her hands was to hide a broken finger that she found awkward. The stunning diamond choker was a wedding present from her husband. Lavish gold bracelets encircle her arm. Her gown, meant partially to reveal her shape, is designed with patterns of the all-seeing eye and golden triangles. The diaphanous outer gown contains squares with her initials A and B.

When the Nazis stole the painting from the Block-Bauer residence, it was given the name “Woman in Gold” and put on display. Adele’s diamond necklace was taken by Hermann Goering. The 2015 movie “Woman in Gold,” starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, told the story of Maria Altmann, niece of Adele Block Bauer, who fought to retrieve the painting. “Woman in Gold” was a landmark case of restitution of Nazi plunder. The painting was purchased for $135 million from Maria Altmann in 2006 by the Neue Galerie in New York City. It hangs in the New York gallery at the wish of the Altmann family. 

“Death and Life” (1910-1911)

After his “Golden style” period, Klimt painted several allegorical paintings such as “Death and Life” (1910-1915) (71’’x79’’). They tell provocative stories. When the painting was originally exhibited in 1911 at an International Exhibition in Rome, it was titled “Death” and it won first prize. When the painting was exhibited in 1912 at the International Exhibition in Dresden, it was titled “Death and Life.” Klimt retouched the work in 1915, two years after World War I began, painting large black crosses on Death’s robe. He added more figures and brighter primary colors to the group, and he painted over the gold background with a dark gray-green. In that year his mother, with whom he still lived, died. The 1915 version of the painting is the one shown here.

Death is represented by a dark figure with a grinning skull that stares at Life. His skeletal fingers grip a red club. Life is represented by several figures from all stages of life, infancy to aged. Prominently placed is a newborn male baby surrounded by several young women, the largest female nude, probably representing the mother. The older woman with gray hair wears a blue patterned head scarf. The lovers, one a single adult male with dark hair and tanned skin, the other a nude female with pale skin and red hair, embrace. The cycle of life is represented. The group is surrounded with a pattern of brightly colored flowers and geometric designs. 

With the exception of the female just to the left of the mother figure and whose eyes are open, all appear comfortably asleep, unaware of the presence of Death. Whether or not she is looking at Death is a mystery. The 1915 revisions are often interpreted as Klimt offering hope.

“Death and Life” in Leopold Museum, Vienna

On November 15, 2022, a climate activist group threw an oily black substance on “Death and Life,” on display at the Leopold Museum in Vienna.  One protestor glued himself to the glass that covered the painting. Having tried several different ways, and for several years, to get European governments to stop drilling for oil, and having had no success, the group announced it was disbanding. The group’s message was “New oil and gas drilling is a death sentence to humanity.” Fortunately, the group always chose paintings that were under glass, so no damage was done to the paintings. 

“Bauermgarten” (1907) (43”x43’’)

“Bauermgarten” (1907) (43”x43’’) represents another source of Klimt’s inspiration: his love of rustic gardens. Klimt also loved Vienna, and he left it reluctantly for very short periods. Friends who traveled with him observed he was never so happy as when he was coming home. He would sing, “The wind is blowing briskly toward my homeland.” He made several paintings of gardens filled with daisies, poppies, roses, sunflowers, and others, all popular garden flowers, composed in triangular patterns. These paintings also were incredibly popular in his time as well as today. This painting was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in March 2017 for $59.3 million, the highest price ever paid for a Klimt painting at auction.

“Avenue in the Park of Schloss Kamer” (1912)

In addition to painting flower gardens, Klimt painted scenes near his beloved summer home in the village of Unterach, located on the south shore of Lake Attersee. “Avenue in the Park of Schloss Kammer” (1912) (43.3”x43.3”) is one of his many depictions of scenes around the Schloss Kammer castle and the Lake. A cobble stone drive leads to the yellow walls of the castle, but what dominates the painting is the avenue of tall trees along the way. Later in Klimt’s life, he experimented with realism, but he always included his decorative patterns. This scene is a kind of paradise. It is peaceful and inviting. Klimt painted for his own pleasure, but these were among his most popular and purchased paintings.

“Art is a line around your thoughts.” (Klimt)