On view
William R. Elfers Gallery
Mountainous Landscape with Lake and Wading Bird,
ca. 1872–76
A dark green paint permeates the foliage of the middle and foreground of this landscape, spreading out across the paper’s surface like moss or lichen on the forest floor. These reticulations were made not with a brush but by pressing wet paint between two sheets of paper, squashing the paint into natural fractal patterns. These chance patterns formed the basis of Sand’s composition, which she worked up into a landscape. About these patterns, Sand stated: “Aided by my imagination, I discern within them woods, forests, or lakes, and I accentuate the vague forms produced by chance.” She called the resulting drawings dendrites,” borrowing a geological term for treelike mineral structures. Though an accomplished artist who also pursued interests in natural sciences like botany and geology, Sand is primarily known for her writing and was one of the most popular writers in Europe in the nineteenth century.
Information
ca. 1872–76
- Maison de Balzac, Dessins d'écrivains français du XIXe siècle (Paris, Maison de Balzac, 25 novembre 1983-26 février 1984). , no. 197
- Nicole Savy, “Une table à dessin ou un bureau? George Sand et les arts visuels (1804-1837),” Mélanges en hommage à Françoise Cachin (Gallimard: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2002).
- George Sand. Une nature d’artiste. (Paris, Musée de la Vie Romantique, 2004), no. 162 (illus.)
- George Sand, Histoire de ma Vie, Livre 1 (Project Gutenberg, 2012)
- Martine Reid, George Sand (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2018).
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Emilie Sitzia. “Watercolours and Dendrites, Lakes and Seascapes: Water in George Sand’s Visual Art,” Water Imagery in George Sand’s Work (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018).
