Luminist

Refers to the movement and style in 19th century America centered around the desire to understand nature through a realistic and detailed rendering of light and atmosphere in painting. The style features great sense of interior depth and depiction of magical aura through careful, invisible brushstrokes. The movement is thought to be inspired by the rise of photography and by the literary philosophies of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) who advocated a meditative, pantheistic communion with nature and the landscape. Later, the style was superceded by the techniques of Impressionism.