Autumn Trees c. 1879 - 1880

George Inness painted "Autumn Trees" with oil on canvas, a traditional medium but one deployed here with an unusual touch. Look closely, and you'll see the paint is applied in a very loose, almost slapdash manner. The canvas is hardly covered; the image seems to emerge from a haze of earth tones. Inness was working at a time when the Industrial Revolution had transformed the American landscape, and with it, the experience of rural life. Though he painted landscapes, he wasn't really interested in literal representation. Instead, Inness used the techniques of painting to evoke a feeling. The seemingly hurried brushwork and thin application of paint suggest the fleeting nature of autumn, and perhaps, a sense of unease about the changing world. The beauty is still there, but so is the sense of something lost, of labor transformed. By focusing on the material qualities of the paint, Inness created a work that is both beautiful and thought-provoking, challenging our expectations of both art and landscape.