Landscape 

Curator: This painting, titled simply "Landscape," is by Edward Mitchell Bannister. The atmospheric handling is remarkable, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: It is certainly heavy, not only in atmosphere but materiality. You can almost feel the thickness of the paint and the labor of layering those tones. It has a very present feel because of that. Curator: Indeed. Notice how Bannister employs a limited palette of mainly greens and grays, building depth through tonal variations and loose brushstrokes, evoking a sense of spatial recession. Editor: He is playing with contrasts to establish planes. Look at the dark, weighty presence of that foreground tree set against the suggestion of open fields beyond. What kind of experience was it to work outdoors with oils to achieve this contrast? Curator: It is an interplay between realism and something less precise. Note also how the structure leads the eye. The line of rocks moves gradually back. The cloud shapes in the background mirror the grassy forms in the foreground creating compositional symmetry. It's subtly effective. Editor: That subtlety really underlines Bannister's familiarity with the landscape, wouldn't you say? He knew how those forms work together. Did Bannister ever talk about his practice of working outside and the physical demands this must have created? I feel the sheer physicality comes across so much in the heaviness of the marks. Curator: Archival materials indicate that he considered plein-air integral to conveying authenticity; he felt it an important part of depicting natural form and atmospheric effect, which also spoke to a growing artistic desire to portray scenes and everyday experience directly. Editor: Fascinating. I can feel that lived experience in the handling of the pigment. The social conditions of working in plein-air are key to understanding this work. Curator: Understanding this work through its social dimension gives it an added dimension that some landscape traditions lack. Editor: Yes, understanding material decisions, how landscape impacts Bannister as a body in the world is invaluable. Curator: I am walking away feeling quite renewed having noticed how that interplay creates a quiet yet strong harmony.