Fitz Hugh Lane

Entrance of Somes Sound from Southwest Harbor, 1852, 23 x 36 inches


Approaching Storm, Owl's Head, 1860, 24 x 40 inches


The Western Shore with Norman's Woe, 1862, 21 x 35 inches


Brace's Rock, Brace's Cove, 1864, 10 x 15 inches


After writing the post on John Peto, I thought that I'd like to discuss the work of another American 19th century painter whose work, I believe, has quite a lot in common with his: Fitz Hugh Lane. They are both painters of great reticence, presenting their subjects with a minimum of artistic personality; brushwork is restrained and the object maintains its integrity. There is a mood of introspection, of silence and thought. Compositions have a simple clarity; even though with Lane we see forms in deep space, it is evident that all are placed with the same eye towards structure and balance that is in Peto's work. And in both artists we see modesty in the size of their canvases, and an abiding interest in the ordinary. For Lane, who lived by the shore in Gloucester, Massachusetts, scenes of boats on water were of everyday life.

Another landscape painter of the same period, Frederick Church, is an artist of grand dramatic scenes, often of foreign lands, painted on huge canvases. His theatrical canvases, full of incident and swirling light, contrast strongly with the quiet ones of Lane. When we look at Lane's landscapes, we see a container of limpid light, with every thing in it as important as every other thing; each form has the artist's attention. Atmospheric perspective lightens and cools distant objects, but each maintains a crisp outline; as with Peto, knowledge is superior to vision. We are invited onto the shores, to feel the rocks, to contemplate the expansive space before us.

(The images were photographed from the exhibition catalogue, Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, by John Wilmerding)