Oak Trees 1876

Edward Mitchell Bannister made this painting, Oak Trees, with oil on canvas. The application of paint is quite traditional, but it’s worth considering that Bannister was one of the few African-American artists working in this mode at the time. The painting's visual power lies in its layering of paint. Bannister used the texture of the strokes to capture light, and the atmospheric effects are achieved through blending and scumbling—a dry brushing technique that creates a broken, soft effect. These landscape paintings were made to be consumed by a growing middle class, who were interested in romanticizing nature, perhaps as a balm to the realities of industrial labor. Bannister himself had worked as a barber and a seaman before becoming a professional artist. In the end, thinking about how and why Bannister created this work allows us to move beyond traditional assumptions about painting and the social context in which it was made.