The oil painting View from Mount Holyoke by Thomas Cole is a stunning aerial view of the landscape at Mount Holyoke. The painting was painted at Northampton Massachusetts after a thunderstorm. View from Mount Holyoke was first shown to the world at the National Academy of Design in 1836. The painting was long known as The Oxbow. Using the elements and principles of design, Cole created a masterpiece in American landscape paintings.
Cole incorporated many elements of design in View from Mount Holyoke. One of the main elements in the painting is color. Color is a huge piece of this painting as it is seen everywhere throughout it. If the viewer looks at the painting from left to right, they will notice the grays and darker colors on the left side …show more content…
There are two major principles of design that are throughout the work, perspective and hierarchy. The entire painting is an aerial view of the landscape below Mount Holyoke. It starts up front showing some of the area of Mount Holyoke like the tree the hidden artist and the foliage on it, but then it transitions to below Mount Holyoke to the valley, river, hills, and mountains below. It even shows the smaller details of the tamed land below. It goes far off into the distance showing the horizon on the mountains. By using aerial perspective, Cole shows a perspective of what it is really like to stand on top of Mount Holyoke and see what the landscape is like. According to Heath (2011), “Visual hierarchy, while it may sound technical, is really a pretty simple concept. By using color, contrast, texture, shape, position, orientation, and size, one can organize elements on a page so that users gets a sense of visual importance.” The hierarchy in View from Mount Holyoke starts off on the left side of the painting. Since most humans read from left to right, the viewer generally would look at a painting from left to right. The tree should be the first thing the viewer would look at since it is positioned in the front of the darker side of the painting. Then using hierarchy the ominous thunderstorm should come into view. Then the viewer would look at some of the brighter …show more content…
Imagine breaking a composition into thirds, two lines horizontally and two lines vertically. “With this grid in mind the ‘rule of thirds’ now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image,” (Rowse, p. 6). View from Mount Holyoke also uses the rule of thirds. At the top left point of interest, it points to the heavy thunderstorm. At the top right point of interest, it points to the now calm sky. At the bottom left point of interest, it points to the two trees and some of the background foliage. At the bottom right point of interest, it points to the Connecticut River bend and valley. Each point of interest is a different position in the painting and is also an important area of the artwork as a whole. All four points of interest are important transitioning points and are all points of hierarchy in the painting. Balance is also a powerful principle of design. Cole uses asymmetrical balance in the painting. The painting is basically cut into two unequal halves. The left side depicts feelings of danger, fear and an untamed wilderness. The right side on the other hand depicts a peaceful and tamed American landscape. The passing thunderstorm contrasts the calm sky and depicts nature created by God and untouched by man (Zygmont). The trees represent the power of the storm. Notice the blasted tree and the broken tree branch on the
Cole incorporated many elements of design in View from Mount Holyoke. One of the main elements in the painting is color. Color is a huge piece of this painting as it is seen everywhere throughout it. If the viewer looks at the painting from left to right, they will notice the grays and darker colors on the left side …show more content…
There are two major principles of design that are throughout the work, perspective and hierarchy. The entire painting is an aerial view of the landscape below Mount Holyoke. It starts up front showing some of the area of Mount Holyoke like the tree the hidden artist and the foliage on it, but then it transitions to below Mount Holyoke to the valley, river, hills, and mountains below. It even shows the smaller details of the tamed land below. It goes far off into the distance showing the horizon on the mountains. By using aerial perspective, Cole shows a perspective of what it is really like to stand on top of Mount Holyoke and see what the landscape is like. According to Heath (2011), “Visual hierarchy, while it may sound technical, is really a pretty simple concept. By using color, contrast, texture, shape, position, orientation, and size, one can organize elements on a page so that users gets a sense of visual importance.” The hierarchy in View from Mount Holyoke starts off on the left side of the painting. Since most humans read from left to right, the viewer generally would look at a painting from left to right. The tree should be the first thing the viewer would look at since it is positioned in the front of the darker side of the painting. Then using hierarchy the ominous thunderstorm should come into view. Then the viewer would look at some of the brighter …show more content…
Imagine breaking a composition into thirds, two lines horizontally and two lines vertically. “With this grid in mind the ‘rule of thirds’ now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image,” (Rowse, p. 6). View from Mount Holyoke also uses the rule of thirds. At the top left point of interest, it points to the heavy thunderstorm. At the top right point of interest, it points to the now calm sky. At the bottom left point of interest, it points to the two trees and some of the background foliage. At the bottom right point of interest, it points to the Connecticut River bend and valley. Each point of interest is a different position in the painting and is also an important area of the artwork as a whole. All four points of interest are important transitioning points and are all points of hierarchy in the painting. Balance is also a powerful principle of design. Cole uses asymmetrical balance in the painting. The painting is basically cut into two unequal halves. The left side depicts feelings of danger, fear and an untamed wilderness. The right side on the other hand depicts a peaceful and tamed American landscape. The passing thunderstorm contrasts the calm sky and depicts nature created by God and untouched by man (Zygmont). The trees represent the power of the storm. Notice the blasted tree and the broken tree branch on the