Farm Scene c. 1939

Maurice Merlin created this "Farm Scene" using graphite on paper. The monochromatic palette and tightly controlled marks build to create a scene that is quiet and somewhat unsettling. The composition is dominated by the large hill and the structures on top, drawing your eye upward. The artist uses a limited range of tones to construct a detailed landscape, where the dense graphite marks create texture and volume. The sky, rendered with swirling lines, contrasts sharply with the more structured lines of the farm buildings. Merlin manipulates light and shadow to give the image a dreamlike quality. The shadows cast by the buildings and the soft gradations in the sky seem to destabilize our sense of space. The contrast between the natural and the man-made is subtly destabilized through the composition. Is this a cultural commentary where fixed meanings are challenged by the representation of rural life? Perhaps this work is a reflection on our perceptions of stability and change.