Canadian Art History: Realism to Abstraction

It has been an old Chinese proverb that says “the stars reflect in the stilled waters” can be attributing to the vividly creative imagination of a painter. The painting of a subject is lucidly drawn by the strong emotions to depict the existing situation. Many painters of the 19th century could have been inspired by the way of life of people, community and the scenic surrounding.

The assortments of societal configurations were filled in the blankness of the canvass.Thus, the painters were dictated by the desires to capture and imitate the details of events, in which realism and abstraction blends in the interpretation of parallelism that depicts in a painting. This paper will discuss and analyze the artwork of Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872), relating his visualization of social interactions. Discussions Overview: the life of Krieghoff Dubbed as the “Canadian Painter of the Dutch”, Cornelius Krieghoff was born on June 19th 1815 in Amsterdam and died in Chicago on March 8th 1872.

He was a son of a Dutch mother and a German father who influenced his childhood interests in music and painting as he formally studied in Bavana and Dusseldorf. As a teenager, Krieghoff and a friend have toured in Europe which further encouraged him to visit the rest of the Western world. It was in 1837 when Krieghoff travelled to New York and eventually enlisted to the US Army which at that time was battling the Seminole Indians in the State of Florida (Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, 2000).Krieghoff’s marriage to French-Canadian Louise Gautier in 1840 has made him realized to be discharged from the military duty, and the decision to move with his wife to Montreal, Canada in 1853.

In Montreal, Krieghoff was inspired by the way of life of the Canadian people which he began to start the sketching, like what he had sketches of the Seminole Indians. Three years later, the paintings of Krieghoff has been sold in the marketplace of Quebec through the help of a friend, John Budden.Some of Krieghoff’s paintings have reached London and Paris during his visit in 1854. The painting entitled: “The Toll Gate” was one of the subsequent paintings he made in 1859, and several paintings followed prior to joining his daughter in Chicago in 1871, which was the place of his death in 1872 (Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, 2000).

Running the toll gate “The Toll Gate” (1859) was one of the famous paintings of Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872) which was believed as depicting the Canadian “social classes”.It was apparent that during the 19th century, the Canadian government has provided “leeway” to the landlords who collected dues from people that pass by within their private estate or landholdings. What have then depicted by Krieghoff in his painting were the social privileges of the landlords that built the tollgate with a toll keeper that collect the toll fees from the passersby.According to Concordia University Professor Dr. Francois-Marc Gagnon (2008), Krieghoff has not only imitated the activity in the toll collections, but as well expressed the social realities that the people from the suburbs have lesser roads to travel since the landlords owns vast properties that surrounds the villagers.

The interpretation of Dr. Gagnon (2008) is indeed depictive of the painting that shows the travelling people in a sleigh who could be delivering their goods to the marketplace, in which passing to and from the landlords’ estates generates potential toll fees.The depth and breadth in the analysis of the painting also points out the incapability of the Canadian government during that time to provide land zoning and develop right-of-way or public roads in the outskirts of the landlords’ estates. To cite, the inaccessibility of the villagers to market their goods and vice-versa the marketing activities were burdensome and shows that the landlords were in total control of the situation (Gagnon, 2008).

Thus, the interpretation of Dr. Gagnon (2008) also correlates the tolerance of the Canadian government for the landlords’ to collect toll fees.The painting of Krieghoff interplays the realism of 19th century Canadian life. The painting itself expresses the emotions of people and social setting. Although it can be interpreted today that abstraction dwells in Krieghoff’s visualization on the way of life and community interaction, but realism and abstraction relates the historical social condition between the landlords and the villagers.

Firstly for the reason that realism depicts the historical sketch of people’s activities, and secondly, abstraction conceptualizes the result of inquiry why there was a tollgate.The parallelism or symbolism of the tollgate recapitulates the difficulties and social struggle. To cite, the tollgate also symbolizes the “power brokering” of the landlords who exploits the villagers (Gagnon, 2008). As further cited, the tollgate could only be one of the symbols of power struggle in the 19th century Canada where isolation and discrimination of the natives were prevalent (Gagnon, 2008).

From this point of view, Krieghoff has indeed visualized the parallelism of realities depictive of his painting.Findings and conclusionIt may be found today that running of tollgates depicts the social endeavors beneficial for safe traveling and as well generates government revenues, contrary to the depiction of Krieghoff’s painting. On the other hand, the painting has vividly expressed the social configuration of the 19th century Canadian life. From which the social structure has eventually changed.

What is then important is the emerging social awareness that running the tollgate has effects to the interactions of people in one social setting. In conclusion, the historical realism has ushered varying concepts that patterns the social visions of Krieghoff.