“Standing on the bare ground,—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,—all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball. I am nothing. I see all,” wrote American essayist and transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson in his 1836 essay “Nature.” Leading American luminist painter Joseph McGurl seeks such an experience every time he creates a plein air (open-air) painting. McGurl’s plein air paintings are the cornerstone of his award-winning landscape paintings. Highlighting Luminism The luminist style of painting, as the name suggests, is all about light and also its spiritual significance. American artists, inspired by the Hudson River School painters, began painting in the luminist style in the late 19th century, although the term “luminism” wasn’t coined until 1954. Characteristically, a luminist painting is a landscape or seascape painted in crisp, cool colors, with an expansive sky and meticulously detailed objects that are cleverly illuminated by light. The …
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