Summer Night 1886

Kitty Lange Kielland painted Summer Night, most likely in the late 19th century, using oil on canvas. She was part of a generation of landscape painters drawn to the simple life, who would trek out into nature to find something fresh to depict. But consider the craft that enabled her to do so. The pigments she mixed were likely produced in factories, part of the burgeoning chemical industry. Her brushes were the result of skilled handwork, yet commercially produced. The canvas itself was industrially woven, and stretched over a frame assembled by a tradesman. Even the easel she used would have been a manufactured object. All of these things allowed Kielland to capture the nuances of light, surface, texture, and form. Appreciating the means of production allows us to see the interplay between nature and culture, tradition and modernity, in this beautiful image.