The Rocket
is a work made by Edward Middleton Manigault, who completed the piece using oil
on canvas board in 1909. Though Manigault is considered an early American
Modernist painter, The Rocket, measuring 20 x 24, is done in a post-Impressionist style.
It depicts an autumn fireworks display over the Hudson River using a distinct
palette with bold primary colors. It is an important painting with a unique
style and story to tell, that is deserving of far more praise and recognition
than it has received to date.
For context, it is necessary to note a thing or two about
the life of the artist. Manigault was born in London in 1887 and began painting
very early in his life. At the age of 18 he moved to America to attend the New
York School of Art, and the next few years of his life were full of
accomplishment. Leaving Realism behind and moving on to post-Impressionist
style paintings, he soon had his art on display in an exhibition, and later
staged three solo shows, one of which was critically acclaimed. At the age of
28 however, two days after getting married, he returned to Britain to serve as
an ambulance driver in WWI for six months. Exposure to mustard gas caused him
to have a nervous breakdown, and his life spiraled downward after that. He would
practice fasting in an attempt "to approach the spiritual plane and see
colors not perceptible to the physical eye,” and this ultimately caused him to
die of starvation at the age of 35.
Walking through the galleries in the Columbus Museum of Art,
it is nigh impossible to walk past The
Rocket and not take notice of it. The vibrant colors grab ones attention
and draw one in to a scene that is immediately recognizable as a fireworks
display over a river. It is an incredibly unique subject matter for a painting,
and a perfect choice to illustrate some of the central ideas of Impressionism,
which are to capture a specific moment in time and focus on the perception of
light. Yet he puts his own creative twist on it, using colors that are slightly
unrealistic, but not unbelievable, and do well to represent the optical
experience of watching fireworks. Short, quick brush strokes of distinctly
different colors mimic the dazzling experience of seeing a display in real
life. The flat image of the painting on paper or a screen fails to demonstrate
how brilliant this effect is in person, as the texture of the thick paint
creates even more shimmer and shadow. Bold red and blue hues illuminate the
trails and clouds of smoke, and the main rocket explosion front and center is a
striking combination of blue, yellow and orange, with a shower of sparks
cascading below it in a variety of warm colors. Some depth is created using a
horizon line over a river bank, and a background that is primarily darkness.
The viewer can perhaps take a second to imagine they are sitting in the small
boat shown down on the river, which reflects the excitement happening in the
sky above.
Manigault supposedly destroyed over 200 of his own
paintings in fits of hysteria or depression, and there are few of them left to
see. But if one were to look through the paintings that remain, it would be
evident that none are so colorful and intense as The Rocket. As the years passed, the palette for his paintings
became more somber and muted, the subject matter more dark and symbolic. By the
end of his life, after his time serving in WWI, he appeared to paint mostly
drab and dull still lifes. Do the paintings of Manigault perhaps provide a
window into his mind? One might speculate that he had been mentally unwell long
before the war, and that his service only exacerbated his troubles, as
evidenced by the change in his art style throughout his life. Whether or not
this is true, it is at least known that his mental health did decline after the
war. The Rocket, then, is not only
exemplary of the spirit of Impressionism, but a relic from the best years of
its creator’s life, when maybe he was not yet troubled, and capable of seeing
life in vivid color without having to starve himself for it.
This painting is not only important for its style and
composition in relation to post-Impressionism, but because it is an icon for
those who suffer from mental unhealth. It is symbolic of a time when someone
who suffered from his own mind was without strife. Perhaps that is why, of the
twenty or so paintings he didn’t destroy, The
Rocket was one of them, and why it is so different from the rest. It was a
reminder that his life was once different, and he was able to know the world in
all of its radiant beauty, something he died longing to see again.
