American Tonalism: Origins & Traditions

 

I was first aware of the art history term, ‘Tonalism’, around 2010.  Since that early exposure, I have spent a lot of time at study in an attempt to try to better understand what it is, where it came from, and how it has evolved.  I have included a brief bibliography of suggested books below, but the following represents my current understanding and analysis of Tonalism which has had such a significant impact on both my life and life as an artist painting in this grand tradition.

 

“…it is the inexperienced eye that sees only surfaces…” -George Inness, 1879

 

My position is that George Inness (1825-1894) is the source for what would eventually become known as Tonalism (I have not read anything which leads me to believe Inness would self-identify as what we understand as a “Tonalist” painter, more below).  I had always heard this from other painters with an interest in Tonalism, but the reason was never very specific.  Most painters relied on the technical narrative (how a painting was physically painted, or how it appeared) of a painting to identify it as a Tonalist work; often misidentifying painters such as Turner, or Monet as Tonalists.  Which they unequivocally are not.  Most people today rely on another famous Inness quote to help them understand Tonalism which claims that,

 

“A work of art does not appeal to the intellect.  It does not appeal to the moral sense.  Its aim is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion.”

 

But what does that mean, and why did Inness make that statement?  I think most casual artists, or people interested in art history do not proceed any further than the period ending that Inness quote.  And to be fair, I didn’t take my examinations much farther than that for many years.  There is a tendency to equate any tonally harmonious, moody, brown, gray, twilight scenes as Tonalist paintings, erroneously believing that the technical narrative was the trigger which defined a painting as Tonalist, or not. 

 

As beloved and well known as Inness’s “awaken an emotion” quote is, it is actually his quote stated just above which is a more accurate approach we must take in order to understand Inness’s intention as his personal philosophical idealism evolved particularly with regard to his exposure to Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), but I will get to that in a bit. 

 

Inness was born in Newburgh, New York, in 1825 and grew up in Newark, New Jersey.  His father was a well to do merchant with Scottish descent.  As a teenager, Inness's father set him up with a grocery store, but Inness was more interested in art and often painted while hiding from customers.  He received minimal formal art training, including some drawing lessons and a short apprenticeship to a map engraver.  Accounts of Inness’s temperament include that he was very passionate in his ideas about art.  He was constantly searching for new philosophies, concepts, and how to apply them to his craft.  Visitors to his studio often were subjected to fervent outbursts from Inness as he downloaded his latest notions about art on his captive audience.  It is said afterward that Inness would calm down and become reserved and thoughtful.  He seems to have been in a constant state of searching, trying to find a better way.  He was said to be full of enormous energy, and drove himself hard.  Though he also suffered from poor health, including epilepsy, which caused stress and anxiety.  And over his 40-year career, he created more than 1,150 paintings, watercolors, and sketches.

 

        Inness held interesting ideas about the art world of his time.  Often making statements that we call today ‘hot takes’, including:

 

• Concerning the Impressionists, he stated that they “…were imbued with the idea to divest painting of all mental attributes…presenting us with the original pancake of visual imbecility, the childlike naivete of unexpressed vision.”

• Concerning J.M.W. Turner’s Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), Inness called it “claptrap” and stated that “there is nothing in it”.

• And concerning the Pre-Raphaelites, Inness found them “dull and insincere”.

 

Despite the rather sensational claims above, when you dig down into the reasons Inness, for example, claimed the Impressionists lacked artistic vision we begin to better understand his philosophical approach to painting and in concert begin to advance our knowledge and understanding of the foundations of what we know today as Tonalism.

 

There is no denying Impressionism’s enduring legacy in the history of art.  If there is a Mount Rushmore of art movements, they’re likely carved into that mountain.  And I personally have no ill will toward those who paint in that manner.  But this boils down to intention more than anything.  What is an Impressionist’s intention with painting?  What is a Tonalist’s intention?  What is the Luminist’s, Abstractionist’s, or any other’s intention?  More to the point, what is your intention when painting?

 

Briefly, Impressionists take their materials out into nature, en plein air, and try to capture the effects of light.  Monet famously did this in several series of paintings, including of the Rouen Cathedral where he supposedly had many canvases at his side which he would change out and work on as the light effect upon the cathedral shifted.  This is surface level.  This is seeing using your physical eye.  For Inness, a painting must possess, “both the subjective sentiment—the poetry of nature—and the objective fact.”  The Impressionists only went half way, because for Inness, art “…is the endeavor on the part of the mind to express, through the senses, ideas of the great principles of unity.”  And ‘unity’ as a concept is the fundamental principle of all art.  Unity can be manifested in different ways, but keeping things simple you can think of it as the mind and body joined together.  It is also the temporal and spiritual realms in correspondence.  It is directness of intention. 

 

Or, let us compare and contrast Luminism (think Hudson River painters) with Tonalism.  Luminist painters generally include artists like Albert Bierstadt and Sanford Robinson Gifford, among many others.  This kind of painting was largely driven by a celebration of the American landscape, with a tendency toward the American west.  It captured a sense of optimism of its time, the mid 19th Century.  Manifest destiny.  These paintings are highly detailed, and represent more of an analytical study, or approach, toward nature.

 

Tonalism is about intimate themes, often individualistic and introverted.  Quiet fields, pools of water, low half-light.  It is not an analytical study of nature, but rather an expression of sentiment and taps into our personal relationship with nature and beyond.    

 

Interestingly, Inness painted much in the tradition of the Hudson River painters early in his career.  It is around 1864 when he moves to Eagleswood, NJ for health reasons that he is exposed to the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg. 

 

My apologies to anyone reading who is a current member of the Swedenborgian Church.  I have done my best to represent these ideas accurately and if I have misrepresented anything, please feel welcome to reach out to me.  From 1749-1756 Swedenborg published eight volumes in Latin of what is known as the Arcana Coelestia, or ‘Secrets from Heaven’.  These volumes contain Biblical exegesis, or analysis and interpretation of scripture as well as writings on the nature of existence and the physical and mental capabilities of humans.  In summary, he posits that the cosmos is divided into two parts; the external and the internal.  These two realms are connected; they can correspond between each other.  And, around the time of Adam and Eve, which is referred to as the ‘Most Ancient Church’ by Swedenborg, humans could access the celestial realm.  Humans could communicate directly with heavenly bodies, without the need of their physical senses.  In short, these humans possessed true spiritual sight.

 

As time went on, humans (due largely to their own pride) began to lose the ability to correspond with the spiritual realm.  Here is the key part…according to Swedenborg, at this time our spiritual vision, which allowed correspondence to the heavens, became obscured by fog or vapor.  And, our memory is the key to recalling how to regain our spiritual sight.  We must remember in order to be “reborn into the light”.  If you think of classic paintings by Inness, “obscured by fog or vapor” should resonate with you.  Is Inness painting this way because he’s trying to peer through the fog and vapor to recall when we were able to commune with the heavens?  Is he painting memory, but obscured because we’ve lost our spiritual sight?

 

Now, there is a lot more to examine here, but I’ve tried to keep it as concise as possible to support my claim that George Inness is the origin and genesis of the Tonalist school of painting.  Inness would have been fully exposed to these ideas, and there are reports that he was “consumed” by Swedenborgian thought.  And if you look at this body of work around this time, you can sense a shift.  There is a new energy.  There is a new approach.  He paints mysticism.  He is searching for causation, for a way to regain true spiritual sight; away from just his physical eye. 

 

Interestingly, Tonalism as an art history term appears to have been coined in 1972 by Wanda Corn in a catalog for an exhibition at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum.  In this small booklet, Ms. Corn outlines her case for the inclusion of five foundational Tonalists: George Inness, James Whistler, Dwight Tryon, Thomas Dewing, and Alexander Wyant.  There are ample examples of the use of terms such as ‘tonal’, ‘tonalist’, and even ‘tonalism’ during and just after the lives of these artists.  That said, when taken in the context of usage, it is clear that these are terms that convey and rely on the technical narrative of these paintings.  For example, an 1884 New York Evening Post review about Inness states,

“Mr. Inness, classed in respect to his color powers, must be considered as a tonalist, and whenever he attempts to leave this quality and venture into the higher power of color he fails.”

 

This is a critique about the surface.  This is about what the physical eye sees.  This is not ‘Tonalism’ as we understand it today.  Another example actually uses the word ‘tonalism’.  Ralcy Husted Bell was a retired medical professional.  In retirement, one of the things he wrote was a book called, ‘Art Talks with Ranger’ from 1914.  This is essentially a series of “chapters” where Bell takes us through his ideas about art and many other subjects.  In it he makes what I would call incorrect claims about Tonalism and Tonalists in general, including that scientific knowledge is paramount for the Tonalist; and he claims that Monet is “…basically a Tonalist”.  These are inaccurate claims when held up against the scholarship of art history.

 

Most of the use of words such as ‘tonal’ are used in the context to describe the physical, technical narrative of paintings from that timeframe.  Based on my research, we do not begin to develop Tonalism as a proper art history term until Wanda Corn publishes her pamphlet in 1972.

 

Tonalism is this idea of two becoming one; a unification which transports us beyond the physical world.  It elevates us.  I call it painting compromise between the temporal and spiritual.  I’m not painting a place.  I don’t even really consider them landscapes.  I’m trying to find what spirituality I have within myself.  I am not a religious person, I’m not espousing a certain church or faith.  But I sense something greater out there, something larger than this physical world.  And my intention is to paint images that help me better understand my spiritual self. 

 

If you are looking for a deeper dive into this subject, I recommend the following authors who have been instrumental in helping me digest this interesting subject.
 

• Rachael Ziady DeLue, ‘George Inness and the Science of Landscape’.

• Adrienne Baxter Bell, ‘George Inness and the Visionary Landscape’.

• George Inness and Adrienne Baxter Bell, ‘George Inness: Writings and Reflections on Art and Philosophy’.

• George Inness Jr., ‘Life, Art, and Letters of George Inness’.

• Elliott Dangerfield, ‘George Inness: The Man and His Art’.

• David Cleveland, ‘A History of American Tonalism, 1880-1920: Crucible of American Modernism’.

• Wanda Corn, ‘The Color of Mood: American Tonalism 1880-1910’.