Dimensions support: 241 x 298 mm frame: 440 x 490 x 90 mm
Editor: Arthur Boyd Houghton's "Ramsgate Sands" captures a busy seaside scene. It feels so layered, but also a bit melancholy. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Notice how the composition draws your eye towards the figures in the foreground. What do their postures, their interactions, suggest to you? Look at the repetition of stooping figures, the symbolism of each posture. Editor: They all seem focused on the sand. Is Houghton suggesting something about fleeting moments or the passage of time? Curator: Perhaps. Or consider the cultural memory of the beach itself – a liminal space, a place of both escape and exposure. What might the artist be revealing about Victorian society here? Editor: That's fascinating. It makes me look at it in a completely different way.
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The model for the central figure in this picture was Houghton's wife, Susan. Houghton often took his young family on trips to the seaside, and Ramsgate was a favourite destination.The informal atmopshere, and the loosely handled, thin paint suggests that this picture was probably painted on the spot.Susan Houghton was a constant source of inspiration for the artist, and she appears in many of his works, including 'Volunteers', which hangs above. Gallery label, April 1995
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