. During the 1850s, John Kensett’s imagery evolved away from the sweeping panoramas of the dramatic Hudson River School idiom to embrace, along with a number of its practitioners, the quieter, more contemplative aesthetic of Luminism. Aligned with the philosophical precepts of Transcendentalism and its imperative to integrate spirit and matter, Luminist painters sought to achieve that communion by infusing their work with a precise and meditative focus on the landscape, particularly as manifested through a concentration on the effects of light and atmosphere in the unpeopled, sparsely composed
. During the 1850s, John Kensett’s imagery evolved away from the sweeping panoramas of the dramatic Hudson River School idiom to embrace, along with a number of its practitioners, the quieter, more contemplative aesthetic of Luminism. Aligned with the philosophical precepts of Transcendentalism and its imperative to integrate spirit and matter, Luminist painters sought to achieve that communion by infusing their work with a precise and meditative focus on the landscape, particularly as manifested through a concentration on the effects of light and atmosphere in the unpeopled, sparsely composed, asymmetrically oriented, horizontal canvases they favored. In all but its somewhat painterly facture — Luminist pictures typically suppress visible brushwork — Lake George embodies the traits of Kensett’s Luminist maturity, portraying the famously scenic site with an attention to the reflective properties of light as it glints in the background off the still waters between what is likely Black Mountain, on the left, and Deer Leap, at right, as seen from Sabbath Day Point. Lake George. circa 1870. John Frederick Kensett (1816–1872) Alternative names John F. Kensett; John Kensett; kensett; j. f. kensett; Kensett Description American painter Date of birth/death 22 March 1816 14 December 1872 Location of birth/death Cheshire New York City Authority control : Q982284 VIAF:?21073920 ISNI:?0000 0001 1561 8549 ULAN:?500030726 LCCN:?n84023637 NLA:?35266745 WorldCat 9 1870, Kensett, John Frederick, Lake George
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Photo credit: © The Picture Art Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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