CLOUD SHADOWS ON PIKES PEAK

Charles Waldo Love (American) 1881-1967

CLOUD SHADOWS ON PIKES PEAK 1959 Oil on canvas

Gift of the C. Waldo love family collection, FA 1999.

I could not help but choose this painting because of the way the little tree in the front stood out.  That is it.  The lime-green color was indeed cool and I figured this one is it for me.

John Berger points out in Ways of Seeing chapter 5 (p.105-106) that "Landscape, of all the categories of oil paintings, is the one to which our argument applies the least."  Capitalism was not once thought to be in the same genre with nature.  Berger also said, "The sky has no surface, and is intangible, the sky cannot be turned into a thing or given a quantity" (p.105).  

This makes me think about capitalism and how it has little to no strong hold on nature.  I would like to think this was true.  However, the fact remains that capitalism deals with ecology, real estate, and property.  This painting of Pikes Peak, the back side of it, is the epiphany of what nature is all about for me.  This view brings about emotions that one encounters in a moments time.  The glimpse of the few trees in the front, illuminating in such rich color, to me represents the magnitude that nature in itself has to offer.  Then, when I look behind to the Beautiful mountains of Pikes Peak, I turn in aw of nature and all its glory.  The title, Cloud Shadows on Pikes Peak, is interesting to me.  Yes plenty of clouds, the thought of clouds brings a somber, gloomy feeling to me.  Then i revert back to capitalism, and I'm once again escalated with reassurance that this place will remain a place of awesomeness.  

Landscape artists have changed from the traditional ways of the time to giving more time, color, and illumination.  Property did play a role in landscaping techniques with oil paintings, a special one.

Berger,John.  Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books, 1972. Print.