An Appealing Image

The piece of art that I decided to investigate and write about was a painting entitled Boulder Crossing created by German-born painter Paul Weber. The painting depicts a beautiful nineteenth century New Hampshire landscape at the bottom of a fairly steep mountain. There are plenty of tall and flourishing trees alongside of the mountain. It appears to be right in the midst of springtime. Almost directly centered in the picture is a group of travelers. They appear to be following a trail through a forest and around the mountain. This trail has them cross a sort of makeshift bridge which seems to be constructed awhile back. This bridge stretches over a calm and quiet creek running through the landscape.

This piece was created in 1855 in New Hampshire. A significant historical moment that was quite prevalent in this time period and location was the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution brought many drastic changes to the United States. Many changes were great and helpful to the country as a whole. However, many changes were not well received and not encouraged. Among these changes were the loss of many forests and other beautiful features of nature. Because of these unwanted changes, artists began to travel around from place to place and paint all the beautiful landscapes that they came around. Included in these artists was Weber. He loved nature and wanted to capture every second of it.

Weber had traveled on this path many times. Because of this, a spiritual connection most likely developed between the landscape and him. This connection must have caused him to want to capture it and its beauty before it was touched by the rapidly changing outside world. In the painting, the sun is also shone shining through the trees and highlighting the bridge and the travelers crossing it. This could be a comment being made by Weber saying that nature should be used by people but not destroyed or altered. People should appreciate it for what it is in and of itself.

This piece of art works on my emotions in a very positive way. It reminds me that there is and always will be beauty in the world. No matter how ugly something can look there will always be something equally as majestic. This painting makes me feel like time has stopped in this one perfect moment and that it will forever live on through this painting. It connects to my values because I also am strongly against the destruction of natural beauty. It can often be so rare to come by and when one does come across it, it needs to be preserved and protected.

Weber creates credibility by doing this painting for everyone. He wants to share the beauty that he has discovered and experienced with the rest of the world. Weber was believed to be associated with the Hudson River School. This was a group of artists whose objective was to paint the American Wilderness before it was utterly ruined through the Industrial Revolution. Being a part of this group makes Weber very credible in his effort to help and be a part of the greater good. The claim being made by Weber, along with this group of artists, was that the new and changing world is coming at the cost of natural beauty. Also that nature is meant to be observed and appreciated for what it is, not destroyed for what it could be. This claim is persuasive because it proved to be true in many aspects including the destruction of forests throughout the United States during the Industrial Revolution.

This was my first time visiting the Palmer Museum of Art. I am traditionally not a museum-goer, although I did enjoy myself. I can imagine going back but not for any planned reason. It would be nice to go sometime to just enjoy the quiet and the peace and the art.

Boulder Crossing by Paul Weber