Oscar Charleston

Recent Sales

Pine Woods

By Charles Warren Eaton

Located in Saratoga Springs, NY

less an arbiter of taste than Oscar Wilde bought one of the works, a scene from Staten Island. (4

Early 20th Century Tonalist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Charles Warren Eaton
Pine Woods

H 16 in W 12 in D 3 in

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Charles Warren Eaton for sale on 1stDibs

Born in Albany, New York, Charles Eaton became a Tonalist landscape painter much influenced by George Inness. His intimate, moody landscapes were known for subdued golden-brown hues and muted tonal harmonies, and the subject was often the landscape in late autumn, evening time, or winter. These paintings were groundbreaking because they were relatively small in scale and intimate countryside views, which was a departure from the generally popular panoramic, romanticized views of Hudson River School painters. In 1879, he enrolled at the National Academy of Design in New York City and then studied figure painting at the Art Students League with J. Carroll Beckwith. He became a close associate with Leonard Ochtman and Ben Foster, both Tonalist painters, and traveled with them to France and England where each formed their own style in reaction to the pervasive Barbizon style of rural landscape and genre painting. They also visited Holland where Eaton painted many canal scenes. He continued to travel rather extensively, visiting Glacier National Park in Montana in 1921 and returned to Italy in 1910 to 1912 and in 1923. A reclusive bachelor, Eaton maintained a studio in New York City, although he lived in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He painted many snow scenes in white and grey purple tones, but by 1900 was focusing more on the theme of the Berkshire pine forests of New York State. His work got less and less attention as modernism became pervasive, and he became increasingly alone and introspective. He won many prizes including ones at the Salmagundi Club, the Philadelphia Art Club and the 1904 St. Louis Exposition. He was a founding member of the Lotus and Salmagundi Clubs.

Finding the Right landscape-paintings for You

It could be argued that cave walls were the canvases for the world’s first landscape paintings, which depict and elevate natural scenery through art, but there is a richer history to consider.

The Netherlands was home to landscapes as a major theme in painting as early as the 1500s, and ink-on-silk paintings in China featured mountains and large bodies of water as far back as the third century. Greeks created vast wall paintings that depicted landscapes and grandiose garden scenes, while in the late 15th century and early 16th century, landscapes were increasingly the subject of watercolor works by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolomeo.

The popularity of religious paintings eventually declined altogether, and by the early 19th century, painters of classical landscapes took to painting out-of-doors (plein-air painting). Paintings of natural scenery were increasingly realistic but romanticized too. Into the 20th century, landscapes remained a major theme for many artists, and while the term “landscape painting” may call to mind images of lush, grassy fields and open seascapes, the genre is characterized by more variety, colors and diverse styles than you may think. Painters working in the photorealist style of landscape painting, for example, seek to create works so lifelike that you may confuse their paint for camera pixels. But if you’re shopping for art to outfit an important room, the work needs to be something with a bit of gravitas (and the right frame is important, too).

Adding a landscape painting to your home can introduce peace and serenity within the confines of your own space. (Some may think of it as an aspirational window of sorts rather than a canvas.) Abstract landscape paintings by the likes of Korean painter Seungyoon Choi or Georgia-based artist Katherine Sandoz, on the other hand, bring pops of color and movement into a room. These landscapes refuse to serve as a background. Elsewhere, Adam Straus’s technology-inspired paintings highlight how our extreme involvement with our devices has removed us from the glory of the world around us. Influenced by modern life and steeped in social commentary, Straus’s landscape paintings make us see our surroundings anew.

Whether you’re seeking works by the world’s most notable names or those authored by underground legends, find a vast collection of landscape paintings on 1stDibs.