THE MOUNTAINS IN ART HISTORY
Nonfiction
To learn, go teach
THE MOUNTAINS IN ART HISTORYEdited by Peter Mark, Peter Helman, and Penny Snyder
132 pp. Wesleyan University Press
Reviewed by Sue Ellis
This group of essays takes a scholarly look at why we find mountains inspirational. We like to contemplate them, hike their trails, crest their summits and ski down their slopes. We feel God’s presence in a towering peak or a breathtaking drop in elevation. Some 18th century writers/philosophers felt that the word, “sublime” seemed the perfect adjective to describe so majestic a vision. Little wonder then, that artists are drawn to capture them on canvas or through other artistic mediums.
Each essay, by Wesleyan University students, contains one student’s unique perspective on a period in time or a particular artist chosen for his/her contribution to mountain art. The diversity of the essays is wide-ranging. In “Arnold Fanck and German Bergfilm,” by Jackson Sabes, we learn of Dr. Arnold Frank (1889-1974), a German filmmaker, among other things, whose first film featured Hannes Schneider, who developed his own technique for skiing and then taught it to Austrian troops fighting on the Italian front during WWI.
In another essay, Page Nelson concentrates almost exclusively on the meaning of the word “sublime,” explaining how our watered-down, modern version hardly covers its emotional meaning.
The impetus for the essays was an assignment given by art historian Peter Mark, a man with a passion for climbing, hiking, and skiing mountains. It was his idea to create a class about mountains as artistic ranges, including Alpine passes, as conduits for the transmission of culture.
In Penny Snyder’s essay “Thanatopsis: A Vision of Change in Nineteenth Century America,” readers are treated to her study of The Hudson River School, a major landscape movement of the 19th century that sought to establish a uniquely American style of art from America’s virgin landscapes:
The intellectual circles that formed The Hudson River School were relatively hard to gain access to, but the movement was by no means closed off to the American public. the Hudson River School was actively engaged with modern American culture and the public. Many members of the Hudson River School's associated clubs were public figures, journalists, or editors. This gave the movement considerable access to the media. William Cullen Bryant's life-long career as the editor of the New York Evening Post afforded him the prestige and popularity, and he often published pieces related to--and that transmitted the ideals of--the Hudson River School.
William Wiebe’s essay covers the work of Emil Nolde, a German artist who morphed from furniture-making apprentice to oil paints and mountain scenes on postcards before switching to watercolor as his favorite medium.
Whether you’re a student or an admirer of art, the little book will engage you, essay by essay, to learn something you didn’t know. As Peter Mark, the class instructor says, “Together we learned. I can say that we taught each other. If you want to learn about a new subject: go teach that subject.”
I’d recommend The Mountains in Art Historyto anyone.
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