I am, definitely, a fan of Thomas Kincade (TK). I have been fascinated by his work for a long time. But like all artists, and many other things in life, there are images that I like and others that I don’t. I especially like his landscape, cityscape and seascapes. I’m not fond of his Disney, superhero, sports and summer tradition images. For me, the idealistic/fantasy of many of his images are fascinating. After years of ‘hustle and bustle’ of everyday life, his images present imaginative views of stress-free beautiful getaways. Couldn’t you imagine spending a week or two in the cottage and setting of TK’s “Mountain Paradise”?
I also find that his landscape views have a lot of similarities to some of the great American West artists of the mid-to-late 1800’s. Two artists that I’ve always greatly admired is Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Cole who painted in the style of the Hudson River School, i.e., large grand landscape views. A couple of favorites of AB is “Mount Corcoran” and “Among the Sierra Nevada’s. One of my favorites paintings of Thomas Cole is “The Course of Empire”. Compare these to TK’s “High Country Wilderness”. I find a lot of similarities. I would find it interesting to hear your opinions on this.
In the case of your selected image, it’s not one of my favorites. But, it is in the style that I like.
Questions to answer:
1) I like this selected painting, but it’s not one of my favorites. But the image is in the style that I like of his. The composition works well. The focal point of the image is the lights of the cottage and the surrounding reflections. My eyes, first, goes to the light. The I roam around the image in a clockwise manner viewing the mountains, then the lake and back to the cabin. The light begins on one side and is balanced by the subdued light of the lake on the other side. The bright area are lower left and upper right, balanced by the darker upper left and lower right. There is enough secondary stories, such as the wildlife (ducks, deer, dog), a fisherman on the lake and a mountain stream flowing into the lake, to keep the mind interested. I see this in a lot of museum paintings.
The lighting fits the subject, which is the cottage. The mountains are lighted just enough to complement the scene and provide a sense of direction and time of day. As an engineer, I’m used to paying attention to the small details and looking for inconsistencies. When I view this scene, my mind isn’t confused or conflicted.
The subject matter is of particular interest. We are hikers and we spend a lot of time in the wilderness. We’ve seen many scenes like this, less the cottage, while walking mountain trails. This lake with the mountain backdrop could easily be based in scenes from the Rocky Mountains, Glacier, Grand Tetons, etc., during a nice sunset. Many times we’ve fantasized about having a small house/cottage on one of the many lakes we visited. This scene easily represents the mood we’ve felt during those times.
2) Some of his work, especially his earlier work was very good. Much of his later work, I feel pandered to the tourist and younger audiences, such as the Disney and super hero themes. However, I have no problem with this. There is definitely a market for this art, so others must like it. TK was not only an artist, but also a savvy businessman. He provided a desirable product to his market segment. I can’t fault him for that and I’m sure he satisfied many of his customers. So, what I consider ‘kitsch” others would consider “Classic”. And at the same time, what I consider “Classic” others might not give it a second glance.
The bottom line is, there are many many reproductions of his art hanging on walls in homes all around the world.
3) I can’t say that modern landscape photography is influenced by Kincade, but there is a lot of similarities between his paintings and good photography. Just go to 500px and search on landscape or cityscapes for examples. I follow a few photographers and a couple that come to mind is a Korean Photographer, Jaewoon U and a French photographer, Serge Ramelli. Both use a lot of bright and subdued colors in their scenes and they’re definitely not SOOC photographers. I’ve attached links to a few images of each that I find have a lot of similarities to TK’s. They're definitely worth a lot at.
Jaewoon U
“Arrives in Heaven”
https://500px.com/photo/129299193/arrives-in-heaven-by-jaewoon-u?ctx_page=1&from=search&ctx_type=photos&ctx_q=Jaewoon+U“Another Day”
https://500px.com/photo/235548135/another-day-by-jaewoon-u?ctx_page=7&from=search&ctx_type=photos&ctx_q=jaewoon+uSerge Ramelli
“Ile Rousse Panorama”
https://500px.com/photo/15246555/ile-rousse-panorama-by-serge-ramelli?ctx_page=12&from=search&ctx_type=photos&ctx_q=serge+ramelli“Winner of the competition”
https://500px.com/photo/217960101/winner-of-the-competition-by-serge-ramelli?ctx_page=24&from=search&ctx_type=photos&ctx_q=serge+ramelli 4) I don’t think so. I visit the Getty museum in LA, periodically, to enjoy the paintings of some of the old masters. TK’s images aren’t any more or less colorful, brilliant, detailed than many of the old masters. This is just the difference between painting and photography. I think many photographers would become better photographers if they studied the paintings of those old masters. It doesn’t have anything to do with the “HDR techniques”. HDR is a technique that attempts to replicate paintings. Let’s face it, painters aren’t constrained by the lack of dynamic range in an image as photographers are.
5) Here are a couple of grab shots. I didn’t think about any artists when I captured these images, but the scenes could have need painted by TK. BTW, both images were taken with the camera that I had available at the time, my iphone.
Yosemite valley was taken as we were coming back from the southern end of the park. We were headed back to the hotel and based by Tunnel View. I hadn’t thought about stopping because I have lots of images from that location. But the drama in the sky and the low lying clouds were exceptionally interesting, so I stopped. I intentionally processed the image for a painterly effect, i.e., lower contrast, muted colors and a bright focal point.
The second image was another grab shot as my wife and I were hiking along Avalanche Lake in Glacier. The lone hiker in the bright morning sunlight, the contrasting colors and reflections in the background water and the shaded tress framing the subject makes me think of TK where he uses light to highlight his subject.
Mike
I am, definitely, a fan of Thomas Kincade (TK). I... (