RSA Scottish Art
Summer
 | Artist: Donald Moodie |
| Title: Summer | |
| Year: 1958 | |
| Medium: oil on canvas | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA Diploma Collection | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| © the artist’s family | |
| Description: Donald Moodie was born in Edinburgh and trained at Edinburgh College of Art. He returned there after the First World War to teach. He painted landscapes and figure paintings and liked to go on painting expeditions with another painter, Sir William Gillies, who was a friend. Summer was painted in 1958 for his Diploma piece and shows his daughter Margaret against the Isle of Iona – famous for its white sand and turquoise-coloured sea - in summer. The intention of the artist is explained in the title - a very warm, calm summer's day. A feeling of airiness and warmth is created by the use of heightened colour and complementary colours, creating strong contrasts between the warm foreground and the cooler background – this pushes the figure forward towards the viewer. The painting has an Impressionistic feel in the handling of the paint, with the main figure described in more detail than the sketchy figures bathing in the background. This, along with the contrast in scale, helps to suggest recession and depth in the painting. The pose is carefully positioned so that the eye travels up the figure to the head and back down the curve of the arm to the book, completing a loop. The figure itself forms a triangle rising from a wide base, creating stability, to the head, which is the main focal point. The light is coming from the left-hand side, which helps to describe the features on her face and give the figure form.Her pose and the way the artist has cropped the image - as if taking a photograph - is reminiscent of the work of Degas. | |
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