Winter, winter everywhere

Mother Nature has dumped another six inches of snow on us here in the upper Midwest, and the forecasters promise insanely cold weather next week. (Highs of -4. Seriously!) With shoulders sore from shoveling, I present a roundup of frigidly picturesque depictions of winter. The geeky challenge I set myself: early modern works by American artists.

Charles Burchfield painted slush better than anyone--probably because he lived in Cleveland and Buffalo. He really understood the look of a Great Lakes winter; note the exposed muddy patches at the tree trunks in Early December Snow (1945). George Ault's January, Full Moon (1941) is an utterly still and chilly portrait of a barn in Woodstock, New York.

George Bellows used blue paint to convey the cold in Blue Snow, The Battery (1910). And another urban scene, Alfred Steiglitz's Winter - Fifth Avenue (1893), features a commute that looks just as uncomfortable as slogging through city streets today. Bundle up!