RSA Scottish Art
Harvesting in East Anglia
 | Artist: David Muirhead |
| Title: Harvesting in East Anglia | |
| Year: c. 1920-30 | |
| Medium: watercolour on paper | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| Description: David Muirhead was born in Edinburgh and trained as an architect before turning to painting. He lived in England from 1894 until his death, so his work is associated with English art of the period and especially the New English Art Club. This watercolour is characteristic of Muirhead's work, where light and nature are more important than the figure at work. It was painted in the field on coarse, absorbent paper and with a loose, “impressionistic” brushstroke. He attempts to capture the shimmering heat and colours of a hot summer's day using broad streaks of blue in the sky and rhythmic brushstrokes to show ripples waving through the cornfield. This demonstrates his understanding of energy, movement and texture rather than trying to capture an exact replica of the scene. This “painterly” style does not merely replace a finished piece with a sketch. Many painters in this period were moving towards styles which represented how paint is used in its own right, rather than its ability to imitate reality. The intensity of the colours is almost certainly influenced by Impressionism. The composition emphasises the broad sweep of the sky more than the landscape. This gives the painting a feeling of space, and gives the viewer a sense of looking upwards. The horizon is suggested as a darker, irregular line in the bottom third of the picture. The figure is almost incidental, and seems only to offer scale and some human interest to the scene. Although this painting is titled Harvesting in East Anglia, it does not actually show us any details of the activity of harvesting. The artist is more interested in capturing the mood of the moment. The subject and title do not always match our expectations. In this case the title refers to a small area of the painting. It could have been called East Anglian Landscape, English Sky, or Summer Afternoon. What do you think is the real subject of this painting? | |
Find us on