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The son of German immigrants, August Biehle was one of Ohio’s most prolific and distinguished artists. From a young age he was a plein air artist, drawing scenes from nature in his sketchbook. Settling in Cleveland, Biehle frequently traveled to Berlin Heights and Zoar, painting the beauty of Ohio’s rural landscape outdoors. In Berlin Heights he painted plein air at artist Henry’s Keller’s colony-type summer school which had been converted from a farm.
Because of his German heritage, Biehle had an interest in capturing locations that had been important to the lives of the Germans who had settled there. One such location was Zoar, a village in Ohio established in 1817 as a communal settlement by German Separatists seeking religious freedom. The house in "Wheatfield in Zoar," with its unique red clay-tiled roof reminiscent of houses in Germany, is a great example of this. Biehle was one of many Cleveland artists who visited Zoar as a respite from the industrial city.
Working outdoors, Biehle found inspiration from nature and experimented with modern design and color theory. He developed a style of painting that utilized rich colors and expressive shapes rather than the straightforward and simple realism of many American scene paintings. As a result, he is one of the artists credited with bringing modernism to the United States.
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Nephos: Art and Climate Research
Explore this painting through Nephos, an experimental research project that examines artworks as records of past weather and atmospheric conditions. Using visual analysis, historical documentation, and climate data, the project investigates what an artwork can reveal about the environment at the time the artwork was created.
Use the link below to see the weather behind "Wheatfield in Zoar":
https://nephos-mocha.vercel.app/studies/biehle-wheatfield-zoar-1920