Canadian Geese 1979

Curator: Isn’t that lovely? It gives me such a quiet, contemplative feeling. Almost lonely, in a peaceful sort of way. Editor: It’s "Canadian Geese," a 1979 linocut by Neil Welliver. He was a fascinating artist, known for his large-scale, realist landscapes of the Maine woods, where he lived. He challenged traditional notions of landscape painting by emphasizing the everyday rather than the sublime. Curator: Yes! Everyday… That's exactly it. These aren’t majestic mountains or sunsets. It's just a couple of geese on a pond. Which is… well, sublime in its own right. There's a kind of stark beauty, you know? The simple lines, the muted colors… Editor: The linocut technique lends itself perfectly to that starkness. It's a very direct process; carving away the negative space to reveal the image. Welliver embraced this, creating bold, simplified forms and textures that echo the ruggedness of his subject. Also the print making here meant these images became quite democratized! Available beyond just the collector of original painting. Curator: You can almost feel the chill of the water, can’t you? I like the way the colors overlap – blues, greens, yellows. And the rippling reflections. Are they still or are they just gliding through it? Is that all there is to the geese beyond this surface? Is anything real beyond this pond? It gives a kind of life, but the stillness gives it a beautiful kind of... almost deathly echo. I don’t know why it makes me think of death, though! It's lovely! Editor: Perhaps because the reflections suggest ephemerality, the constant flux of nature, and that very mutability is an enduring part of the world. And what about the context, the social backdrop? 1979 – a period of economic recession and growing environmental awareness. Does this image speak to a desire for simpler times? A return to nature? Curator: Hmmm. Maybe. Or maybe Welliver just liked geese. It’s easy to read too much into things, isn’t it? Sometimes the most powerful art is the art that makes us feel before we understand. Editor: That’s very true. Thanks. I suppose it is just that lovely in that moment, whatever context it exists within. Curator: Absolutely.