Essay: Critique on two paintings by Alexander Edouart

Sample Essay

About the Artist

The two pieces that I will critique in this paper were both done during the Gold Rush by the prominent artist Alexander Edouart. Born on 5^th of November 1818, Edouart was a famous British silhouette artist who after arriving in San Francisco in the early 1850s took the trail up the Mendocino and the Noyo River within the next 7 years to paint the individuals he encountered there. He was known for creating oil paintings which were incredibly accurate representations of life in California at the time (Driesbach, Jones and Holland).

Logs on Beach

The first piece that I am going to critique is called “Logs on Beach” by the artist Alexander Edouart (1818-1892) (Edouart, Logs on Beach ).

Descriptive Criticism

This is an oil painting depicting a scene on the beach with a lone individual being surrounded by logs strewn about and a hut on the right side. The piece invokes a feeling of isolation and loneliness with the only bright spot drawing attention being the hut on the right side. What is interesting about this painting is how the entire scene seems to pull the focus of the viewer on the individual, even when the details cannot be seen. The surrounding rock faces are intentionally uninteresting and there is only one duck pond which seems to have survived the devastation. One thing that is noticeable in the scene is that only the area inhabited by the individual is shown strewn with logs throughout with no greenery to speak of while the surrounding inaccessible areas seem to be rife with vegetation.

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