Analysis of John Steuart Curry’s Wisconsin Landscape
Wisconsin Landscape is an oil painting painted between 1938 -1939 of a farm-home in Wisconsin and the beautiful nature surrounding it. The perspective is from up on a hill looking down on the quiet landscape mottled with cows and sheep. We can see for miles from the heaps of hay in the foreground to the blue rolling hills in the distance. Thick clouds dominate the top half of the painting with a blanket of green and yellow fields below. It is a bold yet calming image with powerful strokes and rich recurring shapes of color. All of the elements are sewn together by the use of a grid and horizontal divisions. It is evident that the artist took a very structural and mathematical approach in laying out the scene, but in no way does this affect the overall natural beauty of the landscape.
Color is balanced throughout the painting by placement and intensity. The blues in the sky share the same strength and tonal qualities as the hay. The dark greens of the tress in the foreground are balanced with the trees in the upper left. Even the deep red barn, which would normally dominate a pallet of earthy colors, is matched with the bright yellow light in the clouds above it. This placement of color keeps the viewers’ eyes moving around the painting. I was never distracted or trapped in any one area.
There are many recurring shapes throughout the painting that create balance and symmetry. The clouds, trees and hay all have oval shapes. The shape of the tress in the background is almost identical to the shape of light reflected off of the fields. The row of cows is very similar to the thin row of bushes above and to the right of the fields. Even the size of the clouds to the very right of the painting match the shape of the fields directly beneath. Almost every shape in the middle ground is a rectangle.
Most areas are painted with very heavy strokes. Some have enough paint to create a three-dimensional texture. Details are painted with light daubs of paint, resembling rough pointillism. Stroke is used to define space and distance. For instance, the closest two cows are painted with more detail and with smaller daubs of paint. Each additional cow is painted with less detail. Shapes which could be sheep or chickens are just daubs of paint near the house. This gives us a great sense of distance. The further the objects are from the viewer, the less sharp and focused they become.
The use of light is very important in defining the contours of the land. Without it, the land would be flat and lifeless. The light rides along the plains to show the direction of each hill. The light is also used to highlight the cows. This brings them into the painting as characters where without it, they’d blend right into the background.
The painting is divided into long horizontal sections, each representing a particular space and distance. There are three main sections: The foreground, which consists of the buildings, trees, cows and hay; the middle ground which consists of the fields and hills, and the upper section which holds the sky. The angles of each section are very important. They are all 45-degrees which meet the adjoining sections at 90-degree angles. An example is the beams of light meeting with the divisions in the fields. The first angle underneath the cows leads the viewers’ eye across the canvass up to the middle section. Here, the angles draw attention left across the painting and up into the sky.
This painting gains a lot of energy from its angles and shapes. At the same time, it’s very relaxing and surreal. It reminds me of the calm moment before a storm. The clouds are all angled downwards to the left as if digging through the sky. The beams of light are also pointed in this same angle. The main line of trees in the bottom left, are leaning to the right as if being blown by wind. This could either be from turbulent winds circling the landscape or just a way for the artist to create motion.
When I stood in front of Wisconsin Landscape, I immediately felt relaxed. It may be because I enjoy sitting outside right before a storm. I felt this in the painting by the use of colors, the thick clouds and the multiple directions of wind. The artist most likely felt differently because the cows don’t seem to be affected by a change in weather. If something were about to happen, I felt that at least one of them would be looking up into the sky. I visualized being there. I could hear the sounds of nature, the cows and a faint tractor when the wind blew just right. I could smell the rain and feel the moisture approaching. Even though this probably wasn’t the artists’ intention, it’s how I interpreted the scene.
Curry was much more interested in the form of the painting than the subjects themselves. It is very evident that the painting was well thought out beforehand. Every shape and color is balanced out with another similar shape or color intensity. All of the angles and strokes lead the viewers’ eye in a zigzag fashion across the canvas. Every line and direction has a purpose.
Even with this mathematical-like structure, it still presents itself as something that could truly exist in a natural setting. The structure is undoubtedly there, but in no way over-powering or obstructive. It’s amazing that when you blur your eyes, you can really see the horizontal sections and subdivisions within each one. When studied, this painting reads like a grid, but on a first look, it really is just a beautiful and exciting landscape.
