RSA Scottish Art
Woman with Clasped Hands
 | Artist: David Foggie |
| Title: Woman with Clasped Hands | |
| Year: 1923 | |
| 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: David Foggie painted landscapes and townscapes, although his main strength was in portrait and figure painting. Woman with Clasped Hands is an example of Foggie's figure painting. The sitter was the 23-year-old daughter of a large working-class Edinburgh family who often posed as models. Her pink blouse (possibly a studio prop) forms a visual link to her roughened hands and weather-beaten cheeks. Her pose makes a gently curved line from her tilted head down to her intricately clasped hands. The curve of her body contrasts with the strict horizontal lines of the chair and background wall. The overall composition is very balanced and the figure is centrally placed. The areas of most interest (face and hands) are positioned so that they attract the most attention and they are at an even distance from the edges of the painting. This gives the whole arrangement a placid, harmonious feel. The painting has been executed in a loose painterly style. Highlights and tonal changes have been left as the brush marks described them rather than adjacent colours being smoothed and blended together. The palette is split between very dark earthy colours used in the darkened background and which act as an ideal setting for the rosy pinks of the woman's face, hands and body. The greatest detail has been concentrated in the areas that viewers will look at most - the face and hands. The woman is looking into the middle distance, as though she is remembering something or considering a problem. The complex tangle of her fingers seems to relate to her state of mind, and this may be why the artist chose to paint this pose. The woman also appears to be talking - her mouth seems to have been captured as it forms a word. Could she be relating a story, or explaining a difficult situation? | |
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