An Artist Imagines the Landscapes of Frankenstein

January 24, 2024

Art

Interiors

Literature

Nesha Ruther

Writer at Bond & Grace

Painting is an emotional act for Artist Anne Corlett, in which she attempts to respond viscerally to the natural environment by allowing emotion to direct her brush. In her work, Anne crosses from one medium to another – oil, watercolor, pastel, and monotype–in order to tease out new meanings and insight from familiar subjects. In studying Frankenstein, she undertook that same journey of immersion, sinking into the characters and empathizing with both Victor Frankenstein and the Creature. She found a stronger emotional resonance in painting scenes through an emotional arc that mirrored the text. Her collection portrays not only the landscapes in which the events of the novel occur, but the emotions the characters experience in those moments: peace, foreboding, triumph, and fear, bringing together the full spectrum of human experience.

“The monster I address in my work is the human conceit that we as humans are more important individually and as a group, than the overall health of our planet… As with Victor and the Creature, every person contains both good and bad, it is up to us to rise above our egos and repair the damage we have done to our one and only planet,” Anne says of her collection.

Experiencing Anne Corlett’s work, it is difficult not to be struck by the sublime beauty of nature. Her sophisticated brushwork exquisitely renders the landscapes she depicts, from majestic mountain ranges to rolling green hills. It is this reverence for the natural world that made her an ideal Artist for the Frankenstein Art Novel. Like Mary Shelley and the Romantic poets, Anne’s work balances both an awe-inspiring landscape that can make humans feel small and insignificant, and an awareness that we as people nearly always project our own internal feelings onto the atmosphere around us.

“At their core, they are landscapes, but underneath they speak to how the characters' environments seem to mirror their emotions,” Bond & Grace Art Director, Maggie Lemak elaborates.

Anne’s painting, The Tranquility of Home captures the fondness Victor holds for his Genevan childhood. Throughout the novel, this nostalgia soothes and grounds him in moments of strife. The pastoral idyll of the rolling hills contrasts with the sublime beauty of the mountains, creating a dynamic of both simplicity and splendor. A small cabin hangs precariously to the hillside, symbolizing the fragile yet enduring nature of human life.

In Distant Hope, Anne draws from the Romantic school of thought popular during Mary Shelley’s time and uses nature as a metaphor for the Creature's internal state. Yellow flowers symbolize his desire for human connection, yet the dark sky and ominous shape of the branches indicate achieving it will not be so simple. The woodland path cuts through the trees, but its destination is unclear, evoking a sense of mystery and causing us to wonder what the future holds for the Creature.

Healing Light observes that throughout the novel, both Victor and the Creature see nature as a reflection of their inner worlds. As the Creature witnesses the onset of spring, he experiences one of few moments of pure peace. Anne leans into this sensation with vibrant color. Yellow flowers cascade over the hillside, and the mountains are sunlit and radiant. For a brief moment, we can put our cares aside and revel in the beauty of the natural world.

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Anne's Cloud Solace is a simple yet vibrant composition that captures the texture and layers of the sky. While the Azure background and picturesque clouds are lovely to behold, they are transient and immaterial. Like our own emotions, the sky can change suddenly and without warning. A hint of gray on the underbelly of the clouds alludes to shadows yet to come.

No Good Choice depicts a stormy coastal landscape, reminiscent of Victor's time in the Orkney Islands. Harsh and unforgiving, the environment symbolizes the fraught relationship between Victor and the Creature, which has reached a point of no return. While a vague light glimmers in the distance, the stormy sea makes the hope of reconciliation dim. Victor and the Creature are like waves against the rocks, neither willing to relent to the other.

Anne’s landscapes remind us of the beauty and splendor of the natural world, but also that as humans we naturally see it as a reflection of our own emotional states. Spending time walking, hiking, and appreciating the beauty of the environment is therapeutic not only because it brings peace, but because it can hold up a mirror to our own feelings and help us better understand ourselves as individuals. Allow Anne’s art to bring peace, tranquility, and blissful self-awareness to your home.

Anne Corlett’s gorgeous collection is available for purchase.

Anne Corlett received her BS in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin and continued her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Royal Academy of Art in London, the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, and Ox-Bow in Saugatuck, MI.