Collection:
Teaching with Digital Content
Title:
Painting: Illinois River
Coverage / Year:
c. 1925
Illinois
Subject / Keywords:
Painting
Landscape
Oil on canvas
Krafft, Carl, 1884-1938
Riverboats
Description:
A painting of two riverboats on a wide expanse of river past bluffs rising
from the far
shore. Two tall trees rise up left of center on the near shore, where two
figures leaning
on a rail fence look out over the river. A row boat is moored at a dock
at center
foreground. Dimensions are 25" x 30".
Interpretation:
Krafft began his career as a commercial artist. He studied briefly at the
Art Institute of
Chicago and at the Academy of Fine Arts in New York. He executed several
mural
commissions in the Chicago area. He also painted some still lifes, portraits
and
marine paintings in an effort to show that he was not just a landscape
painter,
although he is best known for his skill in that genre. Krafft traveled
from his residence
in Oak Park, Illinois to work throughout this state and in the Missouri
Ozarks after
1914. This scene could easily have been painted near Peoria, Illinois.
Krafft's earlier
works are close in style to the realism of the Hudson River School. The
influence of
later American Impressionism on his paintings of the 1920s and 1930s is
visible in his
romantic reverence for Nature and the flatness of his scenes. He liked
working
outdoors, painting directly from nature. The figures in the foreground
of this work
provide scale and emphasize the degree to which the Nature depicted has
been
tamed by the presence of Man.
Lesson Plans / Themes:
How we learn about communities
American communities in history;
Learning Standards:
16 History
18 Social Systems
25-27 Fine Arts;
Author or Creator:
Krafft, Carl, 1884-1938
Other Contributors:
Source:
Purchased by Lakeview Museum
Collection Publisher:
Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences;
Rights Management Statement:
Contact the owner of the material for copyright information.
Resource Identifier:
LVM1991.008