Rain is literally the method that life today uses to maintain itself; rain supplies life with water and cleanses the earth. This is scientific fact, an observable phenomenon that is proven through objectivity and logic. However, George Bellows’ painting “After the Rain” conveys a much different meaning about the effects of precipitation. His image depicts a mildly forested coastline, distorted by fog, and darkened by the clouds looming over the mysterious and ominous landscape, which as implied by the title, has received rain. The purpose of the scene goes deeper than the physical reality of nature. Bellows use of realism creates a scene contrasting typical ideas about Earth’s natural processes. Through that, he compares the idea of fabricated human perception to reality, while using that perception to instigate introspective thought regarding certain aspects of society and life, which he represents through the various entities in the medium of nature.
One might assume that the inherent qualities of rain include clarity, cleanliness, and reinvigoration. These are, in some manner, true observations. On the contrary, one can observe that a rainstorm can be characterized by violence or disruption. The churned dirt, the turbulent ocean, and the sky is ominous, contrasting to the notion of cleansing and tranquility through rain that people generalize. This is the beginning of Bellows demonstration that compares what we observe to what is real.
The audience can see that Bellows wants the viewer to observe and focus on the morbid and gloomy aspects of his painting. This can be observed through Bellow’s use of dark, murky oil paints to illustrate and emphasize the grim environment that was created by the recent precipitation. The emphasis is to contrast the idea of a friendly and positive environment to a realistic and bleak one. In a broader sense, he wishes to pull the audience away from what is defined by humans and drive them to analyze a situation instantaneously. That is why the painting can be defined by impressionism, it asks the viewer to consider what the painting influences in the mind of the onlooker. The work aims to coagulate a relationship that disregards predispositions between the environment and the observer.
The ocean illustrated by Bellows reinforces the contrast he uses to characterize the rain. The sea appears dark, barren, and turbulent from the recent shower. Visibility across the waterfront is low because the air is clouded with fog. Perhaps the fog across the ocean is shrouding danger or even a purposeful opportunity from the audience. This lack of clarity provides insight to Bellows contrast. As people are not fully aware, or cannot see, how their presumptuous ideas are inhibiting them from seeing the world in its clearest and realistic form.
The trees in the scenery cement the dark imagery instilled by Bellows. They also preserve the theme of inhibited vision in that the wooded areas are thick and dingy, preventing the viewer from seeing what lies inside the forest. This earthwork of foliage makes it near impossible to distinguish where the ocean meets the land. It is through this technique that the piece utilizes a transfiguration from a three-dimensional world to a two-dimensional one in order to hide the waterfront. The shadowing and concealment of the shore advances Bellows connection between the fundamentally observable and reality.
The cliff that overlooks the ocean in the upper-right hand corner of Bellows’ painting is another method that he masquerades and transforms reality into a two-dimensional paradox. It is another area that, because of its three-dimensional characteristics, hides certain geographical areas. This, combined with the dense fog (densest in the picture) that the cliff overlooks, structures the observation complex even more. All of which implies that the cliff may be the highest point (implying it is the best vantage point), but it hardly gives the best view of the scenery.
Another observation of the cliff is the apparent lack of life. It is covered in dirt, churned by the rain, and bears no vegetation. The negative depiction of the cliff is perhaps Bellows’ critique of society. Those who are viewed as the highest on a social, economic, or moral scale do not necessarily reflect that in a realistic sense. Apply the observation complex discussed earlier; one may judge someone based on a fundamentally observable scale (social, economic, moral, etc.). In reality, this may or may not be true, as the person’s (in the instance of the picture, the environment’s) status could be much different than we perceive it. We now see that Bellows’ contrast was an allegory to human perception from a broad, and specific, point of view.
Bellows reasserts this idea through a horizontally symmetrical landscape (appears on the right 1/3), using the cliff, the trees, and the mud as his method of display. The symmetry is coordinated as followed: mud, trees, foliage, trees, mud. This may appear ludicrous at first, but when we take into account Bellows use of the cliff (as stated previously), it brings to light that the symmetry is used to compare the cliff (the “top” of society) as a reflection of the ground (the “bottom”). Both the cliff and the ground are similar in color and texture. So in a broader scheme, Bellows is depicting everyone, regardless of their artificial status, as equals.
The use of dirt is to remind to viewer that something that is viewed as crude or impure can actually be a beneficiary to life. Dirt is the means of provisions for plants; it holds water and nutrients that the plants need to survive. This argument coincides with the previous comparison in that someone, regardless of their “status”, has something to offer to the greater good of life. It establishes that there is a symbiotic relationship between everyone, regardless of position physically or aesthetically.
On the contrary the dirt has been churned into mud by the rain, creating yet another contrast. To understand this, we must compare inherent characteristics of society to the aspects of this painting again. The environment represents a generic population of people, and the rain is an unstoppable action with certain aftereffects. In the picture, the rain has disturbed a particular part of the population temporarily. Eventually, the population will settle, and the rain will have helped part of the population succeed (i.e. the trees growing). Even though the dirt receives no benefits (it actually suffers), it is an inherent characteristic of society, and nature, that a particular group will benefit or succeed at the cost of another party. This realistic perspective seems contrary to how many view the world today. Many think that the world can provide opportunity and grandeur to all. However, they fail to realize that this idea defies the natural and realistic principals that govern everything, despite humanities efforts.
The realistic approach Bellows uses in “After the Rain” is gloomy, bleak, and morbid. The themes he incorporates are disheartening, and uncover the flaws of man, as well as reveal the characteristics of nature. Despite all that, Bellows intentions are meant to be well. He wants to open peoples’ eyes and show them reality, to stop fabricating illusions in an attempt to optimize people’s hopes. In order to do this, he contrasted nature with humanity. With that method, he revealed the vast differences between human perception and reality, and used the contrast to provoke interrogative thought with respect to aspects of society and life.
Bellows, George. After the Rain. 1913. Oil on wood. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel HIll, NC.
*Could not find the painting online anywhere. Visit Ackland Art Museum where Bellows has a whole room next to the John Lawson exhibition
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