RSA Scottish Art

Yellow Landscape with Figures

Small web image of Yellow Landscape with FiguresArtist: Charles Pulsford
Title: Yellow Landscape with Figures
Year: c. 1953
Medium: oil on hardboard
Dimensions:
Suggested topic:
Source: RSA
View full screen image of this work
Open print version of this work
 
Description: Charles Pulsford's paintings incorporate images that are derived from ancient cultures (Greek, Roman, Egyptian) within abstract compositions.He was very single minded in his work and didn't follow the fashionable trends in painting at this time. In Yellow Landscape with Figures, the images he creates are anthropomorphic (part human, part animal). The heads of the figures seem to have a similarity in style to ancient Egyptian representation - flat and shown in profile. Given the sense of ancient Egypt present in the image, it is possible that the yellow landscape in the title refers to the desert. We do not know who these figures are. Could they be representations of spiritual figures or gods? Could they represent a religion or some kind of future being?This composition is very complex. The figures themselves are placed in front of a massive organic structure, but they actually seem to be part of this structure too. Curving lines are combined with hard-edged geometric forms to produce a hybrid of shapes with no clear relationship to real objects. However, the shading and modelling on these forms suggests that they are three-dimensional and possibly living things. The artist has created a mystery.The painting has been executed with vigorous brush work, a restrained palette and a soft tonal range. Most of the colours are yellows, oranges or warm ochres, with occasional maroons and blues. Many of the shapes are outlined in brown to give them definition and to expose background and foreground elements. How would you go about creating an imaginary figure? Is it as simple as cloning parts from different animals? Can you visualise organic forms which could be combined to imagine an unfamiliar being?