Paintings in Sequence - Thomas Cole

I understand that sequential art does not always apply to comic strips but also to paintings. I plan to make a canon of work and one of these examples I considered was perhaps to tell a story I had in mind through single panels rather than in a comic strip. When I was in my HNC course at Carnegie College in Dunfermline. I learned about an American artist called Thomas Cole. I was fascinated by Thomas Cole's work as he showed the history of a an empire and provided us with visual cues that's tells us more about this world. Thomas Cole created a series of paintings which told of the rise and fall of a civilization. While the angle and perspective of these paintings change, it takes place in the same location and provides a story. The evidence of this is recurring images of the coast and the distinctive mountain through the series.

This YouTube video provided me with information about the artists and his paintings.

 The Course of Empire: Thomas Cole's Warning to America

The Savage State (Cole 1834)

This is the first painting of Thomas Cole's Course of Empire series. It depicts a primitive land where tribal man roams the wild lands. Here we can see a primitive human hunting a deer with a bow and arrow. In the distance we can see other hunters. We also see a primitive wigwam village with smoke in the centre. We can see that this civilization knows about hunting for feed and resources and has discovered fire. There are also canoes in the river in the distance showing us that this tribe has found methods of transporting across water. In short, we can see a civilization at a primitive stage.

The Arcadian or Pastoral State (Cole 1834)

Here we can see that small buildings are beginning to appear showing that this civilization under stands the way architecture works. Small settlements have appeared down at the shore and we can see a boat being built suggesting that these settlers also understand boat construction. We can also see a shepherd herding sheep. The environment still holds its natural state. In the bottom left we see an old man using a stick to draw equations in the ground suggesting that here are intellectual minds in the development stage. We also see chopped tree son both ends of the painting. We can see that the natural environment is slowly beginning to disappear as the trees are being cleared for farming and resources. We can see roads and mounted horses showing that this civilization knows how to use horses for transport and have constructed basic roads. The sight of farming and fishing boats helps give the impression that these people know how to feed off the land.

The Consummation of Empire (Cole 1836)

What I do like in this painting is how detailed the environment is. There is a great scene of scale and signs of this prosperous ours civilization such as the use of vibrant colors and large mass enveloped in warm lighting and colour. Large crowds of imperial citizens cover space there is to see their leader's return. From this we can see that he is popular and has a great stature. We can see that he is draped in a red cloak and his position in the crown is at the highest point not only to make him stand out but to show how powerful he is. However there are hints of its dark side as in the parade shown crossing the bridge. While it shows the leader of this empire returning he brings with him imprisoned people of a civilization elsewhere which has been defeated by this empire. However visually, this is difficult to see. The mountain from the previous paintings is visible but we can see that the civilization has expanded to that point and this would give us an idea of how vast this luxurious civilization has grown.

Destruction (Cole 1836)

While the previous painting portrayed a prosperous civilization then destruction shows the hellish destructive downfall of this once great nation. the water is more disturbed, the sky is full of fire and smoke. We see a headless statue where its damaged shield helps point the viewer's eye towards thee centre of the painting. Here we see enemy civilization coming into the conquer this city. All the ships we sawing the bay in the previous image are all destroyed with complete anarchy ensuing. The bridge also acts as a point which separates one side of the painting from the other. Its broken as well as off the architecture we saw previously. Throughout the painting there is death and madness. 

If there was one thing I would say that this painting done's do well is I cannot tell which side is which. 

Desolation (Cole 1836)

Here the empire has fallen and has been left for a long time. there is pillar that is overgrown with plants. The bay is calm. While mankind is absent nature has returned to the environment.There is also a sense that a new civilization will rise and take the fallen one's place.

I like how this story appears as a set of painting but are told in sequence. Each of them tells a narrative and gives visual cues of the civilization at each of it's stages of development. As they are large paintings, there are additional details that help tells us more about this civilization without the inclusion of printed text. I also like how it feels like an allegory to the way America has developed, ,taking influence from Roman architecture for its buildings such as the Congress building. Even the names "The Savage State" and "The Arcadian or Pastoral State" links to the name America gives its provinces. It's amazing how every single small minute details helps gives us more information about this world. Furthermore the spacing between the paintings helps give us a sense of time. While I do not plan to do a full digital painting exercise like this, I found the idea of illustrations created in sequence, quite helpful in visual story telling.

References

Bomboy, R. (2012). The Course of Empire: Thomas Cole's Warning to America. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA2bnof3-D8 [Accessed 24 Sep. 2015].

Cole, T. (1834). The Savage State. [Oil on Canvas] New York: The New-York Historical Society.

Cole, T. (1836). Destruction. [Oil on Canvas] New York: The New-York Historical Society.

Cole, T. (1836). The Consummation of Empire. [Oil on Canvas] New York: The New-York Historical Society.

Cole, T. (1836). Desolation. [Oil on Canvas] New York: The New-York Historical Society.

Cole, T. (1834). The Arcadian or Pastoral State. [Oil on Canvas] New York: The New-York Historical Society.