Vermont Grazing 1944

Curator: We’re looking at Guy MacCoy’s “Vermont Grazing” from 1944, a linocut print showcasing a bucolic scene. What strikes you first about it? Editor: It has this beautiful, almost melancholy stillness, doesn't it? Like a memory fading at the edges. The colours are muted and blocky, but it evokes a strong sense of place. Reminds me of driving through New England in autumn, seeing those ancient apple trees. Curator: The medium is critical here. Linocut is a relief printing technique; think of it as carving away the negative space. MacCoy’s skillful use of it gives us a simplified landscape and speaks to the proliferation of printmaking in the era as affordable art for the masses, during wartime constraints. Editor: The choice of such a handcrafted method is lovely. The roughness, the imperfect edges - it adds to that feeling of looking at something handmade, something precious created in that moment. You can imagine him really focusing on this cow…and maybe I'm projecting here but I almost smell hay. Curator: Right. The simplified forms—the cattle rendered in just a few tones each— speak to a focus on the essence of rural life, and his specific mark-making highlights an interesting conversation with the artistic currents of social realism as an artistic response to the social conditions during the war. Editor: And those blues he used - not a happy, sunny sky blue. The whole mood makes me think not just of farming, but a simpler time... an idealized moment we might yearn for in the hustle of modern life. Even though it was created in the context of wartime anxieties and realities, which also contributes to a somber emotional read of it. Curator: Precisely! MacCoy manages to offer a commentary on agrarian realities through an artistic lens deeply informed by craft traditions and the broader socio-economic pressures around consumption of the arts. It brings high art and craft production into this interesting conversation, doesn’t it? Editor: Absolutely. It reminds me that art doesn’t have to be grand to be meaningful. This slice of rural life, captured with such simple beauty, is profoundly touching. Curator: Agreed. It showcases how printmaking democratized art and captured crucial glimpses of life, labour, and landscapes of America. Editor: Well, on that note, I'm now dreaming of cows and Vermont apples. I need a vacation.