Henry Ward Ranger was one of the leaders of Tonalist painting. Ranger said that “Tonality to us means just one thing and but one thing. If you were to give it an arbitrary definition you might say, harmonious modulations of colour.” Others might say that you see the landscape through coloured atmosphere or mist to get an evenness of tone. The Tonalists focused on (or perhaps preferred) an overall gray tone, blue evening and night scenes were particularly prevalent. The French Impressionists laid down colour against each other to gain a vibrancy without making any attempt to blend them. American Tonalists usually mixed colors after applying them on the canvas – working to gain a harmonious paint surface rich with a variety of edges. As noted by Dr. Lisa Peters of Spanierman Gallery: “Although the Tonalist movement was established essentially as a reaction against impressionism – in the perception that it was overly scientific and a foreign import – many American artists felt free to combine aspects of the two styles.”
So, the Tonalist artists were concerned primarily with creating a “poetic vision” – suggesting in pure landscape the feelings of reverie and nostalgia. They generally did plein air sketches or studies and then painted larger studio versions – often these larger painting might be “from memory” (the studies having been discarded).
Birge Harrison and Arthur Hoeber both were tonalist related. Harrison wrote a book “Landscape Painting” (published in 1909) taught at the Art Students League in New York City and the League’s summer program at Woodstock where he perpetuated his own “moonlight and mist” atheistic. A good example of Harrison’s work is his nocturnal painting of Fifth Avenue in New York. His student and friend, John Fabian Carlson continued his focus at Woodstock and his book on landscape painting has been widely used by student artists. The concept of being reserved in the use of color is not only a concept of tonalism. Sir Winston Churchill, in his book, Painting as a Pastime, is very clear on the benefits of maintaining a strong reserve of color.