Arts Explorer #3: Art Critique



F. H. Varley (photo by Yousuf Karsh, 1964)

For my art critique, I chose a painting by Frederick Horsman Varley, the "one member of the Group of Seven who 'did portraiture'" (Atanassova, 2007, p. 15).

Varley was born in 1881 in Sheffield, England. His father was an artist and and he encouraged Varley to develop his artistic abilities from a young age. After training in Sheffield, Antwerp and London, Varley immigrated to Canada in 1912, and became one of the founding members of the Group of Seven.

 The painting I chose is called Rocky Shore:

You must put your whole being into it. - F. H. Varley

What is going on in the work of art?

I chose this piece because I really liked it. At first I felt drawn to the woman because she looked so alone. I had the feeling I knew her.

I loved the colours (they don't show up very well in this picture). The colour of her dress stands out against the beige earth tones of the rocks, but she is also connected to the landscape because there are some similar tones in her clothing and in the rocks. Her blue eyes also connect her back to the water and sky. 

For this reason, my art word of the week is colour. Colour comes from the sun: our eyes detect variations in colour because of the way different objects reflect light. But colours also evoke emotions (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009). The contrasting colour of the figure's clothing in Rocky Shore makes her seem isolated within the landscape, and yet link her to it at the same time.

The symbols around her are mostly natural - rocks, trees, water, clouds. I definitely associate these with my own experience of growing up in Canada. The landscape looks familiar to me, especially since I grew up in a small town and spent a lot of time outside.

What do you see that makes you say that?

The painting is oil on canvas, a pretty traditional combination of materials. There is no sound included in the piece, but I imagine the sound of the water coming up against the rocks and the wind blowing. It looks like spring or summer so it's probably warm and I think the air would smell fresh and clean.

I imagine the artist sitting outside with his easel positioned on the rocks. The subject of the painting is Varley's wife, Maud, so I can picture them sitting outside together, talking as he painted. I think this piece shows his affection for her. Atanassova (2007) writes of Varley that "no other Canadian portrait artist so nearly approached an understanding of...the radiance and mystery of feminine beauty" (p. 23), and I think this piece illustrates that statement. Maud looks so mysterious; she's beautiful but simple. Atanassova (2007) also writes, however, that the landscape in Rocky Shore is actually imaginary, so my vision of them sitting outside together probably isn't very accurate.

There were no machines involved in the making of this piece, no elements manufactured. Both the process and the subject are very natural. I imagine Varley could have painted most of the human figure in one sitting, then worked over the next few weeks to fill in the landscape around her and work on the details. The composition of this piece creates movement around a still figure. The clouds and the light on the rocks seem to be in motion while Maud sits very still. I think this movement, as well as the strange contrast between the figure and her surroundings, is what makes the painting so interesting.

What more can we find?

Rocky Shore was painted in 1922, by which point Varley had been married to Maud for 12 years. During those 12 years, they had four children - one daughter and three sons - and Varley also went to war, where he was commissioned to be an official war artist. After the war, he concentrated mainly on portraiture. He often painted his family members, maybe as an expression of his affection for them.



Varley's son John c. 1924

Working as a portrait artist in Toronto in the 1920s was difficult, but new opportunities were coming out of the "rapidly expanding universities and the burgeoning civil service, as well as from the business class, which was growing by leaps and bounds in the post-war industrial boom" (Atanassova, 2007, p. 33).

Universities, large corporations and members of the upper class are supporters of the arts even today. Fine art is often inaccessible to the working class, and unfortunately it ends up being supported (and enjoyed) mostly by people with means.

Rocky Shore was displayed at the AGO as part of the Canadian collection. It was in a room with other works by Canadian arists, mostly landscapes. Varley's work is similar in some ways to the work of other Group of Seven artists on display, like A. J. Casson. Many of the paintings in the room seemed to be aimed at demonstrating Canada's natural beauty. Rocky Shore stands out though because it is a portrait as opposed to a landscape.

When I showed my mom the picture of the painting, she wondered what the woman was doing there in the middle of nowhere. She also said that the landscape looked cold, but that the woman did not seem to be cold - there was a disconnect. When my boyfriend saw the image, he said he wished he could ask her what she was experiencing. He wondered who she was waiting for, and whether she felt cold. Now when I look at the painting I can't help but notice how out of place Maud looks, and how separate she seems from her surroundings. At first, this wasn't really apparent to me, but now it seems very clear. Varley wanted to express his feelings of affection for his wife, and capture the beauty of a Canadian landscape, but in combining them artificially he created a sort of surreal world in the space between them.

This blog assignment helped me learn to look more closely, ask more questions about a work of art. This kind of inquiry is something we can encourage young children to undertake if we model it ourselves. They'll learn about visual thinking, practice using their expressive and receptive language skills in sharing ideas, and be exposed to new ideas and perspectives through art and inquiry.

If you're interested in seeing more of Varley's work, check out this short film by the NFB: http://www.nfb.ca/film/Varley/

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References

Atanassova, K. (2007). F. H. Varley: Portraits into the light. 

     Toronto: Dundurn Press.

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art and creative

     development for young children. Belmont, CA:

     Delmar.