Keeping what Hopper saw / paintings track dimming (Thursday 4 October 2007)

The "Hopper landscape" threatened?

compiled by Solenne Schmit

The Hoppers summered in Truro where he painted Hills South Truro, 1930; image held here

Edward Hopper lived for 33 years in a small house in the empty dunes of South Truro, Massachusetts. Every summer, he painted the landscape untill his death in 1967. His paintings were "unassuming expanses of hills and sea-glazed sky." The quiet of South Truro's dunes is nowthreatened. A neighbour plans a large construction in the heart of what is called 'The Hopper Landscape'. A hearing is scheduled for today.

A lot of discussion has been generated about this new house, between those who want to protect the view and those who believe the lot's owner is well within his rights. However, as Verlyn Klinkenborg points out in an article in the New York Times, the landscape Hopper saw, as an artist, is already protected, in his paintings.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/opinion/26weds4.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Master paintings help global-dimming experts

compiled by Emma O’Toole

Joseph Mallord William Turner: Sunset, circa 1830-5; image held here

Scientists have recently begun to analyse the landscape paintings of the old masters in order to understand how our climate has changed in the past. The results of these tests are to feed into the scientific study of a phenomenon called ‘global dimming’.

A team of researchers at the National Observatory of Athens are studying the works of 181 artists who have painted sunsets between 1500 and 1900. The 554 pictures include works by Turner, Rubens, Rembrandt, Gainsborough and Hogarth.

Using the colour of the sunsets, researchers are able to work out the amount of natural pollution put into the skies by huge volcanic eruptions, such as Mount Krakatoa in 1883.  Results have shown that most pictures with the highest red/ *green ratios were painted in the three years following a documented eruption. Researchers have found that these ‘sunset paintings’ are remarkably similar to estimates prepared from historical observations, early measurements and material found in ice caves.

The results of this study will be used to further understand global dimming – a problem caused by air pollution blocking sunlight. Global dimming has in the past been caused by volcanic eruptions. The information will help those experts who believe that air pollution has slowed down global warming and that climate change will increase if air pollution from industry is reduced.

This type of study is, however, not the first of its kind; scientists have looked towards paintings as a form of research before. Only last year researchers analysed a selection of Monet’s London paintings in order to detect Victorian smog levels.

The researchers at the Athens observatory are now in talks with the Tate in London about repeating the study with 40 paintings from the 20th century, to see whether artists have captured the effects of pollution on sunsets since the industrial revolution.

Sources: http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn9699-monets-art-may-reveal-victorian-londons-smog.html; http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/oct/01/climatechange.scienceofclimatechange

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