Sunday Morning in the Mud
Sanford Robinson Gifford did not paint a sunny military camp because he thought war was a holiday. He painted Sunday Morning in Camp in 1861 because he was standing right in the middle of it. He was actively serving in the New York militia when the country decided to tear itself apart. Gifford usually painted grand sweeping mountain peaks and golden skies. Here he traded those majestic heights for flat muddy military tents. But he kept the light.
That glowing luminist light spills over the canvas. It is a harsh contrast to the grim reality of the Civil War bleeding out just beyond the frame. The men are quiet and resting but the tension is palpable. The art world elite usually ignored military genre scenes. The kingmakers wanted high art and classical myths right up until blind patriotism demanded something else. Then they suddenly found a deep appreciation for the boys in blue.
Gifford exhibited this oil on canvas at the National Academy of Design. He knew exactly what he was doing. The painting was meant to drum up Union support and stir the souls of the weary public. It measures 16 by 30 inches of pure calculated propaganda wrapped in a beautiful atmospheric haze. Gifford survived the war and went back to his mountains eventually. But for a brief moment he turned his brush into a weapon and aimed it squarely at the home front.
References
Avery, Kevin J. and Franklin Kelly. Hudson River School Visions. The Landscapes of Sanford R. Gifford. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.
Williams, Hermann Warner. The Civil War. The Artists Record. Boston. Beacon Press, 1961.