Stranded Ship On East Hampton Beach Analysis

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The Stranded Ship on East Hampton Beach by Thomas Moran and Abstraction by Marsden Hartley are both found in the Museum of Fine Arts of Houston. They are both extremely different such as visual elements, technique, and also different time periods. The culture and background of these painters influenced how their painting looks like which explains the difference of both paintings. Moran is known for landscapes and Hartley is known for abstract ideas which is a huge difference. Thomas Moran was born in 1837 to two handloom weavers. During the industrialization, both of his parents lost their jobs and they had to move to Philadelphia. He began at the age of sixteen taking art seriously because he was an apprentice at a wood engraving firm. …show more content…

He studied at the Cleveland School of art when his parents moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Hartley was heavily influenced by the writings of Walt Whitman and American transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Because of this influence, Hartley viewed art as a spiritual quest. He was known as a modern painter and this is seen through his paintings. Hartley’s background definitely influenced his paintings because it has a modern touch to most of his work. Through his painting, Abstract, he tries to convey a sense of monumentality and permanence. This is intensified by his use of vibrating colors. Hartley in his painting Abstract, has unbalance in his painting which make it seem chaotic similar to Moran’s painting because it shows a chaotic storm but also manages to be balanced. Hartley also has a lot of contrasting colors such as vibrant reds, white, orange, yellow etc. Moran has little contrast in his painting because he mainly uses neutral colors. Both paintings are inspired by real objects, Moran’s is inspired by a storm at sea and Hartley’s is inspired by mountains. Another thing in common about both paintings is that both artists used oil, but Moran used oil on canvas and Hartley used oil on

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