Joseph Henry Boston Moonlight Landscape And Harbor Analysis

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Joseph Henry Boston was an American Painter and is well known for his involvement in the Brooklyn art scene, and for having took part in founding the Brooklyn School of New Art.
Henry Bostons involvement in many art circles and communities largely attributed to his fame. Although, the natural and learned skills he possessed allowed him to move up in these art communities and allowed him to have a larger impact. Some of the main pieces that he is known for are landscapes ,genre scenes, as well as societal portraits. In addition, Henry Boston is also well known for his painterly and contemporary use use of shadow. Using oils on canvas, he was able to produce just that.
Moonlight landscape and Harbor by Joseph Henry Boston is believed to have …show more content…

The greys and deep blues, as well as the thickness of the paint, give the clouds a greater texture. Within the large amount of cool colors, he has used more natural and warmer colors. The small amount of orange that speckles the sky implies that the moon has just fully risen and the last bits of color from the sunrise are fading. There is also a slight sense of complementary harmony that is created by putting the orange in with the blue. Although the effect is not as strong as Claude Monets Sunrise, It still makes them stand out and seem to have a more pure color. This effect is also seen with the artificial lights on the horizon, because the oranges of the lights are put next to the blue they appear to be brighter than they actually are. Within the piece there is not a great sense of contrast. Arguably the greatest contrast is seen between the shadow stricken foreground and the lightness of the sky. In addition, similar cool and neutral colors in the clouds are seen as a reflection in the harbor. However, surrounding the harbor are darker neutral colors such as black, green and different variations of brown. These create a greater sense of contrast throughout the whole …show more content…

In Post-Impression, there is a belief that art has been starting to stray too far from structure and should have some structure returned. There seems to be a more consistent structure in Moonlight Landscape and Harbor. Another key concept to Post-Impressionism is more of the artist is seen within the painting. Henry Boston, according to A History of Long Island: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time by Peter Ross, he spent most of his time in New York and many of his paintings were based there. In addition, Ross also mentions that Christianity was practiced in Henry Bostons family. This leads me to believe that the sky does not just take up three quarters of the page for no reason. Based on the Post- Impressionistics fascination with the sky and its link to the divine; I believe that this is why nearly the whole painting is taken up by the sky. Although there are not any sources to confirm that Henry Boston held the divine close the composition of the painting and the time period it is believed to be created in suggests

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