A Formal Analysis of Emily Carr’s The Indian Church (1929)

This is a formal analysis of Emily Carr’s painting, The Indian Church. It was completed in the year 1929, on a 108.6 x 68.9 cm canvas with oil paint. The dimensions of this painting, as well as the tree trunks and the chapel, draw the eye upwards due to the use of vertical lines.

The artist demonstrates a playful artistic style, evident by the whimsical lines that create the foliage. There is some subtle use of linear perspective which can be seen in front of the chapel on the turf. While the lines are not straight, they still appear to go towards a vanishing point in the middle of the church, leading the viewer to notice that the horizon line cannot be seen as it is blocked by the dense woodland. There is ample contrast between the church in the foreground and the forest in the background. The forest is dark to medium in value, while the church has a much lighter tonal quality, creating opposition.

The intensity of the forest’s colours is high in saturation. The rich greens and mahoganies are near impossible to miss, while the subtle nuances of the light blues and yellows of the chapel almost go unnoticed. Despite this difference, the chapel and the forest are similar in the fact that the two contain both cool and warm hues. The colour relationships of this work are contrasting due to the combining of complementary colours. The green of the foliage contrasts with the reddish-brown of the tree trunks and the large boulder at the bottom left. The light blue on the chapel contrasts with its light orangey-yellow as well as the flat, musty orange of the small patch of exposed sky. The church is very linear and painted realistically, while the forest is depicted in a more whimsical, unrealistic style. The white cemetery gives an air of peacefulness due to its light value. The highly visible brushstrokes all over the work, give it a very painterly effect, and tie together all of its elements, adding to the painting’s tension.