Fireplace Tile c. 1936

Curator: I find myself completely charmed by this humble earthenware tile, likely designed to adorn a fireplace. John Dixon probably made it around 1936. Editor: There’s something terribly anachronistic and sad about the scene. Classical warriors rendered in mauve on what looks like a child’s bedroom decoration? It’s giving tragic kitsch. Curator: That's interesting. I see it more as playful and inventive. There's this wonderful fluidity in his approach to form; his treatment of space almost evokes watercolor drawing rather than conventional ceramic painting. Editor: But what's the narrative here? A figure hurls stones from a fortress while soldiers on horseback look on... It screams of power imbalances, and not in a subtle way. Who gets to be inside, who is exposed? It feels unsettling, however quaint. Curator: Maybe. I see a historical scene but imbued with Dixon’s particular blend of memory, myth, and observation. Remember that at this point, the neo-classical was on the out and modernism was becoming more fashionable, a re-interpreting and remembering is always an important topic. Editor: It does reek of re-enactment, which can have an ugly edge if we consider who is being valorized in such exercises. What stories are being retold, and whose voices are silenced? Curator: It feels less prescriptive than inquisitive. After all, we are simply peering at one of life’s rich possibilities through his curious imagination. I find myself feeling connected with the people depicted, not above them. It invites empathy, wouldn't you say? Editor: I can’t shake the unease I feel. Maybe this speaks to my own biases. It is beautiful but loaded with signifiers that can't be ignored, a battle being reenacted, frozen on a small tile...it could feel playful. Yet it brings so many difficult power structures of history to mind. Curator: It's funny; the intimacy of its original location around a fireplace just brings this little artwork to life, as it must once have illuminated the most ordinary hours with an invitation to look and think, don't you agree?