Our Banner in the Sky by Maggie Foster
“Our Banner in the Sky” by Fredric Edwin Church is a painting that was done during the beginning of the Civil War. The painting depicts the American Flag in the sky with the use of clouds, stars, and other celestial things in the sky to capture the colors. In addition, within the painting the artist uses nature to depict the horror that the war would entail.
The use of the color red is important to this painting because red is often associated with bloodshed, suffering, evil, and horror. Also the dark colors used to depict the trees and mountains show the darker side to this painting. The artist chose these colors to symbolize the tragedy that already happened, even though the war had just begun. He seems to have no hope in the war because of the dark tones of this painting. The red is swallowing the painting and there is only just a bit of white light showing. The painting can be interpreted as pessimistic because of these virtues, but the artist has some hope of being able to rebuild because of the small patches of light.
The artist uses nature to show the gloom and dullness of the war. For example, he used a bird in the upper left which could be the raven, which is a symbol for death. The fact that the bird is flying over the flag and towards it means that there is death and destruction to come. Another example of the artist using nature is with the tree branch as the flag staff. The tree branch is bare and almost appears as dead. The branch is meant to support the flag and hold it up high, but it is dying and suffering. The idea that America needs to resurrect from this horrible time and come back better is seen with this branch. The branch can be restored to its lively glory, but it will need to unify with nature first, like the United States in this battle. Therefore, both of these symbols mean that the artist knew or thought that this war was going to be a dark point in America’s history.
