The artwork titled “Untitled (Logging Scene)” was created by Alexander Calder in 1922. Calder is better known for his mobiles and abstract sculptures, but this piece is an example of his work from the American Realism movement and is classified as a landscape genre painting.
The painting depicts a somber landscape that has been impacted by logging. In the foreground, a large barren hill, stripped of its vegetation, dominates the scene. The hill is characterized by dark, muted tones of brown and black, while the ground shows evidence of logging activity with sharp, vertical stumps punctuating the terrain. These tree stumps are perhaps a testament to the once-thriving forest that stood there. In the background, you can see the remnants of the forest with a few thinly scattered trees standing tall but lifeless against a desolate sky. The palette is subdued, consisting mostly of earthy tones, which suggests an atmosphere of emptiness and ecological loss. The painting communicates a sense of stillness and the harsh reality of man’s intervention in nature.
