A Bayou at North Park

Realism drove artists to strive for precision, based on the idea that paintings should resemble photographs. Alten’s training in this style is visible in the detail-oriented nature of this work. Each blade of grass lining the pond, as well as the plants in the foreground of the painting, have been painstakingly painted individually. Alten would have used a very fine brush, likely made out of a few hog or horse hairs. Alten began his career working within traditional French Barbizon and American Tonalist styles. His landscapes, like this view of North Park Grand Rapids, Michigan, appear more naturalistic and somber when compared to work of other American artists of the period.