Tornado

Paul B. Travis (1891-1975) was an American painter known for the dynamic, boldly composed paintings of American subjects that make him one of the most distinctive painters of the Cleveland School. Tornado from 1927 depicts a tornado in the dynamic, boldly composed manner that distinguishes Travis's best work from the more conventional painting of his contemporaries. The 1927 date places this in Travis's most productive period, when he was producing the dynamic, boldly composed paintings that are his most accomplished works, and the tornado subject shows his talent for depicting the dramatic power of the American landscape.

Tornado is important in the history of American regional painting because it demonstrates the dynamic, boldly composed manner that Travis brought to American subjects as one of the most distinctive painters of the Cleveland School. Travis's dynamic, boldly composed paintings—depicting the dramatic power of the American landscape with the boldness of a regional painter who knew the Midwest firsthand—represent one of the most distinctive traditions in Cleveland School painting, and the 1927 painting shows this tradition at its most dynamic.

Tornado is Travis's dynamic Cleveland School painting: a tornado rendered in the boldly composed manner of one of the most distinctive painters of the Cleveland School. The 1927 painting shows the dramatic power of the American Midwest depicted with the boldness and dynamism that make Travis one of the most distinctive regional painters.