The Pastoral Art Trend

I can still remember when the trend in artwork reflected the ideals of a vibrant and romanticized life outside of rural America. Black and white photography of city scenes like New York City or the Golden Gate bridge were a sign of a cultured and interesting individual.

We even embraced this trend towards European landmarks like the Eiffel tower to add to a sense that we were well traveled, or at least we were planning to be!

Then for a while it seemed that the more nautical and coastal artwork filled our mainstream shelves. Docks and ship hulls, ocean scenes, even kayaks and canoes surrounded by mountains became the go to pieces to hang up in hallways and half baths.

Around this time we were also experiencing the hard-to-ignore Farmhouse trend of art that focused on words and sayings and “House Rules” and declaring “Live, Laugh, Love” in its various reconstructed ways.

It must have seemed too “on the nose” at that time to fill these “farmhouses” with art that looked like scenes from the backyard of a real farm, because you rarely saw this as the chosen decor. Which is why I find it interesting that now, as we are all ready to move on to another trend, I am noticing a slight lean towards old fashioned oil and watercolor paintings of scenery and what I like to call “pastoral” art.

The word pastoral means “a depiction of rural living typically used to draw a contrast between the innocence and serenity of the simple life and the misery and corruption of city life,” which I have summarized from one Merriam Webster definition.

Steers and cows have taken center stage as the preferred animal subject of this art but these two pieces from Urban Evolutions in Appleton (above) also have a style to them that I find worth noting. There is a story book quality which reflects the sentiment that there is an innocence to the pastoral life.

The antique painting of cherries for sale at August Haven in Appleton reflects that dreamy painting style and the idea that collecting fruit in a basket is a sign of a more humble lifestyle.

An appreciation for this vintage painting style is not only popping up in art but in wallpaper as well. I am still smitten with the great colors and contrasts of this display bathroom at the International Builder’s Show last year.

Gone is the realism of a black and white picture of an ancient oak draped in Spanish moss or a mountain scene dotted with tall and straight spruce trees…this wallpaper is simultaneously a throwback to the types of wallpaper I used to see in the heavy sample books I played with as a kid and a nod towards this new soft and serene imagery.

After seeing wallpaper mural examples of this style trending for a couple of years across these great designer sites:

Chris Loves Julia wallpaper mural

Bless’er House wallpaper mural

Seeking Lavender Lane home office

I was inspired to look for something that felt more like a painting and large scale art installation for my mudroom.

Although the whole room is still coming together I was very happy that a piece I only saw online on the Graham and Brown website translated into such a deep and expensive looking wallpaper.

The colors play into the muddy mauve I choose for my front entrance over a decade and a half ago and the way the shading illuminates the mountain in the picture you would swear the sun is both rising and setting when you look at it during different times of the day.

For me it has the perfect balance that I am finding as I continue to weave old and new ideas into my remodel. This pastoral sense of storybook trees but with a mountain instead of a barn or cows. I guess I agree with the previous observation that it might be too “on the nose” to have a farmyard painted into the hillside. Besides, when you have the real thing out your window- most art pales in comparison.

At the end of the day what you choose to hang on your wall is personal and no matter what trend we see in mainstream outlets make sure that it speaks to you. Art shouldn’t be as replaceable as it has become. That is why I can appreciate this reemergence of classic oil paintings. They feel like they have been authentically loved and kept and thrifted and re-loved again. Good art should resonate and it should take you somewhere.

Whether that somewhere involves a dazzling city street surrounded by lit up skyscrapers or the rolling hills of a seaside pasture, it’s a different escape for everyone. We shouldn’t be surprised that pastures and storybook trees are emerging. With all the technology available to us our everyday has become burdened by the overwhelming convenience of knowledge. The lost ideals of pastoral life has been poised as the opposite- serene and simple.

Most of the trendy cow and countryside art we see right now will find it’s way into your average suburban spec house. It won’t be taken too seriously but it also won’t go unnoticed. In a more subtle way than the Eiffel Tower or the Arc De Triomphe it will represent an awareness of all the different places we could visit, and all the different lifestyles we could live.