Blue and White Float

	Artist: Robert Henderson Blyth
	Title: Blue and White Float
	Year: 1952
	Medium: oil on canvas
	Dimensions:
	Suggested topic: built environment
	Source: RSA Diploma Collection
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Description: Robert Henderson Blyth's painting moved through distinct phases, from early work where line and structure were uppermost in his mind, to his late work where form dissolves into colour.Blue and White Float belongs to an early phase of Blyth's career. Around this time he spent his summers exploring the harbours of Fife, Banffshire and the West Highlands with William Gillies. The composition of this painting deliberately hides a picturesque view of the harbour, focusing instead on a partial glimpse of the harbour between two massive rocks. It is a bit like peeping through a keyhole - we are seeing a snapshot of what is happening without anyone knowing about it. We can see the harbour and its paraphernalia of masts, nets and floats, but the traditional picture of bobbing boats, seagulls and the sun on the water has been avoided. Instead, Blyth has chosen to look at the underbelly of the harbour - graffiti, cracked and patched concrete, hosepipes and chains. This could have been quite a gloomy painting but the focus on the bright blue and white floats and the orange jersey of the man appearing between the rocks adds sparkle and colour. The composition is divided roughly into three vertical sections - the rock on the left, the distant harbour, and the rock on the right. Blyth has cleverly created real depth in this painting - we can either focus on the harbour view or on the huge rocks with scribbled names.The sky and buildings recede through the use of scale, unified colour and tone. The rocks and foreground contain more detail and texture. The mood of the painting is quite sombre but also tranquil and lazy. Could the man be waiting for something, perhaps the return of a fishing boat? The weather, the graffiti and the obscured point of view all combine to illustrate a place with rough edges and none of the fake jolliness of a tourist harbour scene. This is an attempt to portray a real feeling of a place, rather than to show an idealised view.