Sunday Morning in the Mines, 1872. Charles Christian Nahl.
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| Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola, New York. Great Paintings of the American West. |
Here we have a scene with a great deal going on. Sunday is a day of rest and time to do laundry, read the Bible to fellow miners who don't read, horse race, play a little music, and write a letter home.
Charles Christian Nahl was born in 1818 in Kassel, Germany, to a family of well-known artists dating back to the 17th century. He studied at the Kassel Art Academy in Germany. Because of the political unrest in Europe, he and his family left for the California Gold Rush in 1851. He tried mining himself, even buying a "salted mine" (a mine that has some gold placed in it to make the buyer believe that it did have gold). He and his brothers began sketching miners in exchange for gold. They also illustrated local newspapers and books and magazines.
After a fire destroyed their studio and most of their artwork, they moved to San Francisco. Charles became one of the most significant artists in California, the first to enjoy the patronage of wealthy clients.
During the 1870's his depiction of the bawdy lives of the early miners were popular and he was considered one of the leading artists depicting pioneer life in California. He also painted classical paintings with allegorical themes and his detail painting of animals compared him to the last of the 19th Century Neoclassical artists.
Hi Nat - an interesting history ... and how terrible his work was burnt and destroyed. This work looks almost as if it's photographed ... but I'm glad he was able to leave a legacy of those times .. Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hilary. Thinking about fire--if it's photographs, hard to duplicate, but if it's paintings, technically, the artist could paint the scenes again if sketches or notebooks could have been saved. This was the Sacramento fire which practically destroyed the city.
DeleteI never heard of him or saw his art and I even lived in SF. That's too bad that a fire destroyed his work though. That's quite the painting above.....it's got a lot going on. Kinda busy for a Sunday morning.
ReplyDeleteHis art of the miners was called "bawdy," considering how difficult mining was, I suppose that on their day of rest the miners were temped to "let loose."
ReplyDeleteI thought it looked like a photograph too. Odd colouring on the white horse with brown legs, peculiar. I was wondering about the guy being held by two others as well. Lots going on in that picture. Very sad some of his work was destroyed. This is one of the things about ISIS which terrifies me, how much ancient artifacts they are destroying. Talk about barbarians.
ReplyDeleteFrightening, actually. When cultural works are destroyed, there are no replacements. Perhaps Nahl wanted to put many scenes in one painting. Wonder what the other ones were like.
DeleteI somehow never pictured there being anything other than dreariness around a mine location. Maybe that's only an assumption I've made. I like the scenery paintings and the Indian painting better, perhaps because they are visually more calming. . .
ReplyDeleteThe scenery was peaceful, but "man" was not necessarily so. I thought I would try and give an example of the many peoples who made up what we call the "Western Expansion."
DeleteWhat a shame so much of his work was lost to a fire. Very cool artist. So much movement in his work. Thanks for sharing him.
ReplyDeleteThose miners let loose! I think that after days spent under the ground, I would relish being outside. Thank you for your comment.
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