By Anne W. Semmes
At the Greenwich Botanical Center trees and art came together with art historian, educator, and lecturer Dr. Page Knox “highlighting artists who use trees not only as subjects, but also as sources of meaning and inspiration,” so introduced by co-host Kate Dzikiewicz, executive director of the Greenwich Tree Conservancy. “She’ll guide us on an exploration of how these contemporary artists interpret and reimagine trees in their work.”
Nearly 30 attendees sat enthralled by the images Knox shared as she spoke to those images spontaneously without notes, moving through ages of art. “I have so many artists I find to be really talented in lots of ways,” Knox began, “not just artistically, but also philosophically who have used trees as a subject from which to really think about our connections to the larger world and our connections to each other.”
This lecture “came about” she said from Covid, with her Columbia University students “stuck in New York City,” allowing her to be reacquainted with her favorite trees in her backyard, recalling how trees were the “origin of landscape painting and how landscape came into its own in the 19th and 20th century.”
“Back in the Renaissance,” she told, “Trees were part of a larger landscape where a narrative was played out.” She cited a favorite backdrop of the Forests of Fontainebleau in France. “It had “these enormous oak trees…there for centuries… and you have Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, painting very lovingly these trees,” but within a biblical subject as in his “Hagar in the Wilderness.” “Corot loves this oak tree so much he wants to give it center stage.”
Then came artist Théodore Rousseau. “He moves into the Fontainebleau Forest and becomes aware that people are cutting down these trees… He starts the conservation movement, which is quite similar to what’s happening with the National Parks in the United States… So, there’s already an awareness by the mid-19th century that these trees are important historically… emotionally, that they should do whatever they can do to preserve these types of national monuments.”
Painting en plein air
Then with technology, “Paint comes out of a tube….You can buy a canvas, an easel, a palette and go into the forest, set everything up and paint what you see…You start to see impressionist painters like Monet painting these very famous oaks,” working to “capture this unique type of light that forms in the forest.” And then its “post-impressionism when Van Gogh, another great painter of trees starts to look at these trees in very emotional, psychological ways.”
Van Gogh arrives in Arles, the south of France, “at the moment that all of these trees are blooming and he is so overwhelmed by the beauty of these trees that he paints 18 paintings in a period of about three or four weeks.” Then with his failing health, “He becomes very fond of these cypress trees…But if you get up close, they’re all gnarly… very complicated… and Van Gogh could relate to them very personally…. He writes to [brother] Theo, ‘The cypresses are always occupying my thoughts.’ So, for him, the cypress tree is a real symbol for strength.”
By the end of the 19th century, artists like Gustave Klimt are “thinking of trees as places of refuge,” said Knox, but moving into the 20th century, from 1910 to 1945, “modern artists like Mondrian have a minimalist approach toward trees. “I want to come as close as possible to the truth and abstract everything from that until I reach the foundation of things,” said Mondrian. “For him,” said Knox, “the tree was the way to do it.”
Knox would address other artists she saw able to successfully convey messages through their tree art. “William Kentridge is a very powerful example of an artist who has a lot to say… with his history growing up in South Africa during the time of apartheid,” with his “reputation as much of a philosopher as an artist.”
Equating a tree to a human body
“He often saw himself as a tree,” added Knox. “And you’re going to see this with a lot of these artists. They equate the tree to the human body… Kentridge is very interested in books and paper and what results from these trees… So, he made images patched together of trees to show you the complexity of the tree, thinking about the complexity of society in South Africa… I love these images… He talks a lot about the tree as it ages, the tree as it grows. He says all the years you were living you were growing a type of tree inside of you. It fills all of you as you get older… The tree offers hope to people in the sense that every year it renews itself.”
She next cited Anselm Kiefer as, “one of the most powerful artists working today. Kiefer makes these monumental installations engaging with very large questions about spirituality, about humanity, about our relationship with the larger world.” Born, “literally as the final bombs are dropping on World War II… close to the Black Forest…very crucial as part of their identity, both individually and as a nation…He will so appreciate the green, the natural world, because as a child, he sees nothing but death and destruction.” He’s using wood from these local trees in the Black Forest, trying to speak to the history of Germany…Keifer’s very textural… Kiefer sees the tree as faith, hope, and love…And recently he did a whole series of ‘Under the Linden Tree,’ in Berlin.”
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was introduced as “very outspoken about issues of the environment and political corruption…He’s collecting different kinds of woods from different parts of China … to show you China as a complex country.” He would then use trees and roots to address “how migrants are being turned away in very horrific conditions.” He would face imprisonment himself and spell out his experience with “an installation” illustrating “how the government set up cameras all through his house.”
Artist Charles Gaines, South Carolina born, Knox found “absolutely fascinating” with his paintings first “all about palm trees.” He would speak to “issues of colonialism, capitalism, settlement,” and civil rights. In Africa he found “trees that have enormous resonance with various African tribes,” like the Baobab tree.
Man-made trees
She named artist Roxy Paine as “the tree man.” “Born in New York City… he sees everything as manmade, as artificial… In the early 2000s, you start to see Roxy Paine trees made of stainless steel… placed very strategically in different parks in different locations… He is speaking to the fact that the natural world is very controlled by humankind.” Her favorite was “these Siamese trees conjoined with each other and yet they’re separate.”
“Has anybody seen this tree?” she asked of an image of a tree in flaming red. “If you drive down the west side of Manhattan, it was commissioned for the Highline… made of synthetics” by Swiss born Pamela Rosenkrantz. “She created this ‘Old Tree’ to resemble the human body… veins and arteries… but it seems so unnatural and yet there’s something about the form of the tree that still brings us in and makes us feel close.” A version of that “Old Tree” has arrived on an island in Venice, “now being reflected in the lagoon and it’s really quite stunning.”
Knox would save “the best for last” British painter David Hockney, now in his 90’s. “Hockney puts a smile on your face,” said Knox, “after I’ve been hitting you up with climate change and civil rights and all of these heavy issues. Hockney always provides a breath of fresh air.” And being in his 90’s “he keeps working which is why I love him so much…He has a very intense relationship with trees.” Growing up in the north of England in a town called Bradford, Hockney would ultimately center his work on his roots, and its ancient trees such as the Hawthorne tree. “Hockney creates the largest painting of trees ever made so far… He called ‘Bigger Trees Near Water,’ shown at the Royal Academy on an enormous wall.” And it was “the relationship of these trees having the same roots, like a family of trees, which fascinated him.”
For her finale Knox showed a favorite Hockney painting currently on display in London. “It’s a tree house set in the actual Kensington Gardens … I love this because Hockney said, ‘If I’m going to spend my final night on this planet, I’d like to spend it in the tree house.’” Knox sees the work as “a marvelous concept of getting close to the natural world.” As illustrated in her share of artists, “Trees can speak about humanity, they can speak about the human body they can speak about environmental crisis, they can speak about time.” But “more than anything else” she said, “They make us really understand who we are as people.”
