RSA Scottish Art
A Breton Washing Pool
 | Artist: William Marshall Brown |
| Title: A Breton Washing Pool | |
| Year: c. 1927 | |
| Medium: oil on canvas | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: figure composition | |
| Source: RSA Diploma Collection | |
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| Open print version of this work | |
| Description: William Marshall Brown, like many of his Scottish contemporaries, often made sketching trips to Holland and Brittany in France.In A Breton Washing Pool, Brown has captured an informal group of Breton women working on the shoreline probably near the town of Concarneau. Using a palette of light, natural colours, he has captured the effects of sunlight on water and the glare from the sand. This large oil painting would have been worked up from sketches and studies done on the spot. Some of the brush strokes, especially on the water, are broad and rapid, whereas in the detailed foreground Brown has taken care to achieve a convincing realism. The painting covers a wide range of tones from bright highlights to very deep shadows, showing extremes of light and shade on a sunny afternoon.The composition shows an interesting perspective which looks down on the beach from a slightly elevated position. This allows the viewer to see more of the figures in a line down the beach. It also allows the main figure to stand out a little above the line of the sea. The narrow strip of sky is fringed by a sliver of land, and another narrow strip represents the sea. Two-thirds of the arrangement is made up of the earth-toned beach. The people in the painting are not identified as individuals. Even the main figure has her face in shadow so we can only see her silhouetted profile. This is a scene of work within a landscape, and the personalities of the women have been ignored in order to show a general view of the washing pool. Does this scene represent the drudgery of work? Or are these people happy to be working together in the sun? Do you think this is an accurate representation of an everyday scene, or a romanticised view of coastal life as seen by a tourist? | |