Winter, England 1920

Curator: Before us we have "Winter, England", an oil-on-canvas artwork crafted in 1920 by Tom Roberts, painted en plein-air, focusing on the landscape around him. What’s your initial response to this seemingly simple woodland scene? Editor: Honestly? Melancholy. There's something incredibly still about it, even desolate. Like a moment caught between breaths. And the contrast of that almost sickly yellow ground against the greys and blues... unsettling, yet compelling. Curator: I find it interesting you fixate on color. Roberts was known for his meticulous approach to depicting light and atmosphere through materiality. Considering he created this 'en plein air', the act of painting itself becomes significant. Editor: Absolutely! I can almost feel the cold seeping off the canvas, feel the rawness. It’s not just a picture of winter; it's the sensation of winter. You can almost smell the damp wood and frozen earth and see the traces of light hitting the highest points of each tree. Curator: Roberts lived most of his life in Australia, but he came back to live out the remainder of his life in England. These are British trees, painted in situ, which emphasizes the inherent labor of capturing a very specific locale at a certain point. How does it compare with earlier, idealized depictions of the British landscape? Editor: It's so grounded, literally! It pulls you out of Romantic fantasies. It acknowledges decay and stillness; the wood is clearly dead, so this artwork depicts nature in all its cycles of birth, death, and transformation. Curator: Indeed. It challenges expectations of the pastoral landscape, replacing idyllic tropes with the unvarnished realities of the English countryside. The material of oil paint then, allows Roberts to represent something raw and essential in his art. Editor: It feels incredibly personal, like Roberts isn't just painting what he sees, but how he feels about being there, witnessing it. The loneliness. Curator: Perhaps, or maybe it's his commitment to an art practice, working 'en plein air' late in life in a new environment, to document its character with such specificity. Thanks for helping unpack it, it makes you look at Roberts’s artwork in a new way! Editor: And thank you for pulling me back from my reverie. It is much more fascinating than it looks at first glance.