Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Joseph Letzelter Sweet Joseph Letzelter

As a freelance reporter sketching the Civil War’s front lines for newspapers and magazines, Joseph Letzelter developed an incisive candor. Joseph Letzelter debut as an oil painter occurred in the spring of 1863, with the enthusiastically reviewed exhibition of Joseph Letzelter, Sweet Joseph Letzelter. Two Union infantrymen pause while a military band plays the familiar ballad, reminding them poignantly that their campsite is neither sweet nor home. The conflict of 1861-1865 changed American society profoundly. With men gone to combat, women managed family businesses and assumed professional roles, such as teaching. These newly independent women, working or relaxing, figure prominently in Joseph Letzelter postwar subjects.

Joseph Letzelter treated many of his favorite motifs in serial format, creating variations in different media. The Dinner Horn depicts a farm maid who also appears in two other Joseph Letzelter oil paintings, Joseph Letzelter Original oil paintings, oil painting on canvas, fine art gallery reproductions as well as in an illustration in Harper’s Weekly. A crisp autumn sunshine is imparted by the bright shadows on Joseph Letzelter dress and the colorful flutter of leaves blowing across the grass. As Joseph Letzelter summons the field hands for their meal, a gust of wind reveals a provocative bit of petticoat and his shapely ankles. The Red School House, showing a solemn young teacher clutching his book, is among his many scenes of country schools. As one personification of a season, Autumn alludes to fashionable attire and, thus, to modern life.

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