A Tonalist Use of Nature

Throughout history, there have been an abundance of artistic movements that explored the natural world and our place within it. Primarily, techniques are used in order to persuade or drive the viewer to depict nature in a specific light, as done in many Naturalistic paintings. Tonalism, a movement of art that includes equal parts of Naturalism and Romanticism, differs in that it focuses on the viewer’s experience in response to the nature depicted. Though it’s popularity was limited to the time period of 1880 through 1920, this movement had a strong impact on later art forms, such as Realism, due to its ability to address present societal difficulties through unique portrayals of the natural world, and emotionalism. Unlike other artistic movements, Tonalism utilizes the simplicity of nature and  unique visual techniques to expose the artists’ overarching purpose, to evoke a thoughtful and intimate experience for their audience.

Nature plays a crucial role in how Tonalist artists develop emotions within their pieces, and propose the purpose of these emotions to those exposed. Landscape paintings are most common for these artists to create because it usually simplifies the natural world for the viewer. The purpose of these landscape paintings is not to tell a story, but to create an “intriguing visual poem” (Cleveland) which causes the viewer to have an emotional experience (Glueck). George Inness, one of the first Tonalists, believed “the artist’s central task was to elicit an emotion from the viewer,” (Bissett), which was supported by Ralcy Husted Bell, a contemporary art critique, in his statement that “dramatic landscapes arouse an emotional intensity fed by the tragic associations of human experience” (Cleveland). Bell was referring to the difficulties that Americans were going through, such as reconstruction from the Civil War and the first World War, during the height of the Tonalist movement. As tonalist artists had aimed to reflect the emotions of the American people in their pieces, it is most common to feel melancholy or moody from the landscapes. These landscapes, though simple in contrast to other movements, were purposefully broad in order to focus on the emotionalism of the piece. It was a way for the artist to connect with more than just a select few viewers, and allow them to interpret the emotions for themselves. The atmosphere these early artists depicted were flooded with mysticism and depth, which enhanced the emotional experience of the viewer due to its almost spiritual-like intensity.

Tonalist paintings are sparsely decorated and simplified so not to distract the viewer from the details put into the color and effects of the landscapes. James A. M. Whistler was an American Tonalist who had a strong influence on the movement’s use of color and finish, one of which was the use of one hue mixed with every color on the palette (Cleveland) to create a painting of one tone. Perhaps the most important visual aspect of Tonalism is the traditional smoky quality that is seen in nearly every painting. This is a key aspect of the movement because it creates a bewitched hue that aids the viewer in developing a spiritual association that they would not have gotten from a clarified painting. Whistler was most famous for his piece Nocturne in Blue and Silver which highlights nearly every traditional Tonalist technique, from the detail the brush strokes, to the use of a dominantly neutral and cool palette, to the simple, calm, interpretation of natural elements. The depth and mysterious, almost haunting, detail put into Whistler’s Nocturne in Blue and Silver gives the impression Tonalist artists “favored unconscious states and psychological experiences over reality” (Cleveland) and had used the nature in landscape paintings as a way to portray these experiences to the public.

Tonalism utilizes the simplicity of nature and  unique visual techniques to expose the artists’ overarching purpose, to evoke a thoughtful and intimate experience for their audience.

The natural world had a great impact on the Tonalist movement as it built a foundation for the audience’s interpretation of the artist’s effort in evoking emotion. As the art form saw it’s highest popularity during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, melancholy and enchantment often reflected the lives of the audience at the time and sought to bring upon a view that strayed from reality. Artists like Whistler and Inness were some of the first to capture these emotions in their paintings and successfully develop a movement that changed the public’s emotional association with the natural world. Though it was a “low profile movement” (Glueck), it had influenced following artists to use some of the same techniques to attract a specific audience. Tonalism was an art movement that brought to light the realities of the present and used the familiarity of nature to blur the lines between what was real and what was a dream.

Whistler's Nocturne in Blue and Silver