Midnight Ride of Paul Revere Essay Example

he depicted the story of Paul Revere when he was a child. The artist is includes houses along a road in between a river and near a small forest. He also depicts Paul Revere riding through the town as several civilians notice him hectically.

If you look closely enough you can see in the upper left part of the painting three lights to resemble the enemy nearing its destination. This belongs to the Great Depression period right after World War I. This piece is definitely a representational narrative painting. The content is the story unfolding in the painting. The line of the road directs your eyes towards Paul and the town. There is also a linear perspective due to the town and due to value depth being created by the landscape and then continued further with deeper values.

The Church and hills tend to direct your eyes upward due to the lines created by them maybe that was Woods way of saying leave it in “Gods” hands. The church and houses have a geometric shape due to their straight edges. But the landscape the bushes, trees, the river and the horse all have organic shapes. Value on the hills is used to create depth as well as parts of the road. The buildings appear to more flat because there is less of a value change. They also show Flemish influences from his trip to Munich in 1928 (Arnason & Mansfield, 2010).

The racking light from the buildings is used to create space and to create depth. It is as if Wood took a picture of this night has it was unfolding showing

the time and motion. You can see the horse in mid gallop and shadows being cast from the sun showing the time of day. Every ones’ body language also showed there in something serious going on. The lighting is dramatic because it is very bold and bright. The colors in this painting don’t necessarily have a meaning behind them but they are also influences of Flemish.

Wood uses light and dark values to balance out the painting as a whole. I would say it is asymmetrical because of the small town in a panic on the bottom half but on the top half there is landscape and nothing else leaving it empty and tranquil. The road unifies this piece and introduces variety into piece as does the trees. The focal point is clearly Paul Revere due to the simple fact that the road leads to him as well as the light fixated in his direction and even the path of the trees seem to lead in his direction.

The artist also balances the painting through the use of organic shapes and geometric shapes there is almost an even amount of each from the town and landscape. Due to the curves in the bushes and mountain compared to the sharp angles of the houses and church. The value also tends to give the painting balance as well because of the lighting slowly fading from the town to the landscape. This is yet another attempt to focus your attention on Revere and the horse. There is rhythm in the rolling hills and the trees because they are all the same shaped like the heads of

broccoli.

The road also provides rhythm as the “spine” of the painting. The houses and people seem proportional to one another but the houses seem larger than you would think. This may be due to Wood putting us in a different perspective, like a bird’s view of some sorts. This art piece tells me he valued the idea of Revere being so heroic in an attempt to save his people. This artist used to tale of an historical event as a source for input. I feel Wood wanted to depict to the world how he felt the midnight ride occurred.

I agree with him in the sense that this is what you might expect as a child but far from actual events. Critics during his time criticized him due to some of the German influences seeing as we had just finished a war. This work of art fits into a movement in the Middle East known a Regionalism. Signifying how he believed America was better than we appeared to be during that time. I would say this work was closely related to politics because the event in it depicts actions from political squabbles.

This painting also has a hint of gothic influence because of the church pointed roof and the houses too. Wood’s painting can also be compared to Thomas Benton’s work in which both are regionalist just different locations (Arnason & Mansfield, 2010). Like in Benton’s painting included below, although these are two paintings completely different paintings. They both showed Americans determination to work their hardest. This work is symbolic because this gave Americans something to believe in by showing something

positive.