Distant Beauvais 

Muirhead Bone made this watercolor landscape, Distant Beauvais, using traditional techniques to capture a scene that speaks to early twentieth-century life. The washes of color, applied with a brush to paper, give the scene a muted, almost melancholy feeling. But consider the subject; it's not just the cathedral in the distance that defines this place, but also the telegraph poles marching across the landscape. These are relatively new infrastructure at the time, and it signals both progress and the encroachment of modernity on the countryside. Bone's choice of watercolor, a readily portable and immediate medium, suggests a desire to document the changing world around him. It is a direct, economical medium that mirrors the efficiency of the technologies he depicts. Recognizing the artistic skill in seemingly "humble" materials allows us to appreciate the artist's commentary on the shift from traditional to modern life, captured with immediacy.