RSA Scottish Art
Edge of the Wood
 | Artist: Philip Reeves |
| Title: Edge of the Wood | |
| Year: c. 1975 | |
| Medium: gouache and collage | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA Diploma Collection | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| © the artist | |
| Description: Philip Reeves was influential in the revival of printmaking in Scotland in the 1970s, and is also a painter whose main source of inspiration is the land.Edge of the Wood is a collage, an interpretation of a view of Cleeve Hill in Gloucestershire. By including torn papers of varied texture, and then over-painting this with gouache, Reeves has produced a richly textured surface which appears aged and weathered. The palette is quite varied, including greens, greys, pinks, and pale blues and the chalky tones make this a pale image, reminiscent of a dusky evening or a foggy day. Reeves presents a patchwork pattern of fields, trees, foliage and other landscape forms in a tightly structured composition. Hedgerows are suggested by cuts and slashes through layers revealing more colour underneath; and vertical lines are brushed in to create some stability. Interestingly, although we cannot necessarily see exactly how this abstract image relates to the original scene, Reeves has created a strong sense of perspective by converging some of the diagonal lines.This is an abstracted view of a landscape. There is no intention to create a recognisable horizon, sky, or sense of scale such as a figure or house. The title is important here: it offers a true relationship to the original scene. If you look at the work of aerial photographers you can often find very abstract images which do not look like landscapes. A map is a representation of a landscape which seems very abstract to us until we begin to read it. Can you read this painting as you would read a map? Which visual clues help you to see a landscape within this image? | |
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