Dimensions 45 x 32 in. (114.3 x 81.28 cm) (outer frame)
Curator: Before us is Max Weyl’s "Temple Woods," painted in 1882. It's currently held in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Editor: Immediately, I notice the earthy tones and the density of the forest depicted. It's an almost claustrophobic space, rendered in thick layers of what I presume is oil paint? Curator: Indeed. Weyl was working in oil on canvas. You can really see his allegiance to the principles of plein-air painting here, observing the nuances of light and shadow directly in the woods. Consider the cost and availability of the materials that informed his art production at the time; tube paint, a relatively new innovation, certainly assisted this. Editor: Absolutely. It's interesting how this idyllic woodland scene reflects back onto the viewer through this access to outdoor scenes. It creates an association to leisure and belonging. And there’s that lone figure in the distance…is it a groundskeeper perhaps? What do we know about the social dynamics of accessing these spaces? Curator: Historians have suggested that the “Temple” refers not to a religious site, but a particular location in Rock Creek Park near Washington D.C. As parks became increasingly valued public spaces, so too did paintings representing them. Weyl actively participated in exhibiting and selling his landscapes, suggesting an acute awareness of the market and art's reception by wider society. The accessibility of paint certainly impacted his art market strategy. Editor: Right. So we can examine his art making as not only tied to natural light, but to labor conditions in the production of oil paint itself and also in how access to outdoor spaces at this time period in US History might determine what segments of the public can even envision this perspective of outdoor painting. Curator: Precisely! He’s embedded in the conditions that make art both possible and meaningful, linking Weyl directly into complex social and economic relationships. Editor: Thank you for illuminating these relationships. I now see beyond the landscape into a tapestry of social and material contexts. Curator: My pleasure. These details add such richness and relevance to what might at first appear a simple landscape scene.
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Born in Muhlen-am-Neckar, Germany, Weyl began his working life as a watchmaker's apprentice. After immigrating to the United States, he set up shop in Washington, D.C. and in his off-hours began painting still-lifes. He finally gathered the courage to exhibit his paintings in his shop window in the early 1870s and soon they came to the notice of a customer, Samuel Kauffmann (publisher of the Evening Star and the president of the Board for the Corcoran Gallery of Art), who became a steady patron. Purchases by Mrs. Grover Cleveland and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson eventually placed the artist's works in the White House. Buoyed by the sale of his paintings, he went to Europe in 1879, where he came under the influence of the French Barbizon painters. He subsequently became know as the "American Daubigny." Much of his subject matter centered on the environs of Washington, D.C., such as the Potomac River marshes and the Rock Creek Valley. The location of the present image, however, is not certain.
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