Trees spend most of the year disguising themselves in a dense robe of foliage, but as the fall comes around, they shed their armor and boldly reveal their trunks. Their grand sloping limbs bear down upon the ground, swaying wistfully in the breeze as if communicating with the world in whistles and groans. Wrapping them in golden darkness, winter accentuates them amongst the emptiness of the landscape. Despite displaying their full personality, trees remain unnoticed in the fall, overshadowed by the presence of Halloween decorations, pumpkin patches, and cider stands. As the bustling streets grow quiet from the biting winds, who will be there to marvel at them, feel the roughness of their bark, or rest exposed below their barren limbs? Eyvind Earle’s serigraphs are a testament to the magnificence of trees and the order of nature, reminding us of the beauty of our world through his distinctive vision.
A renowned illustrator, animator, and author, Eyvind Earle is best recognized for his work with Disney, where he contributed countless illustrations and background paintings for movies such as Peter Pan (1953) in addition to larger roles, such as leading production design for Sleeping Beauty (1959). While Earle became well-established during his decade-long stint with Disney, he was a celebrated artist outside of his work in animation and film production, best known for his stunning landscape serigraphs. Painting for upwards of seventy years, Early became a master of the natural world, consistently taking inspiration from its ever-changing forms and infinity. Like the season of Fall, Earle’s work is moody, colorful, and sequential. I especially enjoy Earle’s unique layering technique, which localizes perspective, bringing attention to the countless details of a landscape without distracting from its grandeur. Earle was also a master of illustrating trees, accentuating their character by portraying their depth, motion, and character.
Similarly to the layered frame-by-frame technique used to create animations, Earle would develop serigraphs that portrayed expansive landscapes. Serigraphy, a variety of silk screening methods, uses stencil-based printing to pass images onto canvas. By designing different stencils, an artist may pass multiple layers of ink onto a canvas, creating an image. Despite being a tedious process, Earle was able to create unique landscapes that lacked a point of perspective. Rather than leading the viewer’s eyes to a “vanishing point” to convey the illusion of depth, Earle’s serigraphs relied on the presence of multiple foreground elements and a background layer to create the illusion of depth without compromising the size of the landscape elements, a humbling perspective which accentuated the vastness of the world. Additionally, this allowed Earle to direct the viewer’s focus onto overlooked elements, such as trees, by placing them directly in the foreground while maintaining a vastly ordered vista.
Take, for example, the piece “Day’s End,” in which Earle displays a misty landscape that vanishes into the distant fog. Without compromising the breadth and extent of the sprawling shrubbery and cloaked mountains of the background, Earle is able to draw the attention of the viewers to the long tree branch hanging from above, dipping into the line of sight of viewers. It’s a natural but welcomed disturbance to the perspective. In this case, the tree is cloaked in shadow. Earle is especially capable with the usage of light to accentuate features and develop volume within his paintings. My favorite piece by Earle is his serigraph, “Ancient Tree,” an awe-inspiring depiction of an aged trunk. Taking up a majority of the frame, Earle plays with shimmering golds, bright greens, and deep blues to underline the curvature of the tree’s structure and the mossiness of its bark. The tree is not perfect, but its beauty is not in its conformity; rather, it is derived from its earthen complexion, the aggressive twists in its bark, and its mossy blemishes. Earle uses a diversity of neutral tones and bright, popping colors to bring these glorious natural structures to life, all while calling attention to their unique composition.
In the passing of time, we have a tendency to forget that the natural world has stood steadfast for centuries, silently observing the changes around it. The trees that surround us have been there for centuries, witnessing the world change for better or worse. Now, as the fall settles in and winter reminds us of its presence, let us not overlook these silent giants. Through the artwork of Eyvind Earle, we find inspiration and reflect on their significance as we transition through seasons, reminding ourselves to marvel at their intricacies and resilience. Earle’s style has helped renew our appreciation for their natural beauty, allowing us to see through the veil of our immediate perspective and recognize the importance of these unnoticed wonders.
