Nationality: Swiss
Born-Died: 1853-1918
Media: Oil on canvas
I am not really a fan of Ferdinand Hodler. When I briefly traveled in Switzerland I was extremely eager to skip his paintings in the museums. I still do not like his color sensibilities at all. I don't like the lackluster brushwork, the semi-volumetric nature of the forms, the intermittent use of line in otherwise tonal paintings and the (often) lack of middle and dark tones in his work, which leaves them looking chalky, dry and weak looking.
However, when he didn't fall into these errors, some of his paintings are actually quite nice. I do appreciate some of his stylizations, which I think can be interesting and clever. I like that he wasn't afraid to boldly stylize reality to suit his expressive ends.
This selection of images focuses on his confident use of form when depicting clouds as a subject. As an artist, I personally wouldn't have painted these clouds in quite these ways, but I respect some of his innovative choices. I am always interested in observations and in observing natural phenomenon such as unusual cloud formations, so I appreciate it when another artist makes use of such phenomenon.
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