Landscape 1936

Curator: It’s so interesting how unsettling this landscape feels despite its calm color palette. Editor: Indeed. What we’re looking at is Hale Woodruff's 1936 oil painting, titled simply, "Landscape". It's a prime example of the American Regionalism movement—yet it feels very modern, very dreamlike. Curator: "Dreamlike" is a great descriptor. Those rounded hills... they remind me of a reclining body, a giant at rest. There’s something ancient about the shapes and forms. I sense a primal connection to the earth. The bare trees look like they could be bones. Editor: Woodruff painted this during a pivotal time in American history—during the Great Depression, there was a push to define an American identity rooted in the land. He studied with Diego Rivera a few years earlier, which clearly had an impact on how Woodruff would develop a public social art practice after his return to the United States. Regionalism artists typically depicted realistic scenes, often idyllic. Curator: This…this is not so idyllic, though, is it? Look at the textures and the almost muddy tones he’s chosen, and yet there are greens and pinks mixed throughout... Are they hopeful? They could also signify decay, transformation. Editor: I see your point. This feels much more psychological than just simply a picture of nature. You know, there’s an inherent tension at play. This image invites you to be at peace within it, but there is a constant element of tension that holds back complete comfort. In the 1930s many sought the peace of the natural world. Yet, that peace was tinged with the anxieties and realities of their own troubled times. Woodruff beautifully reveals the psychological ambivalence of the moment. Curator: That is true. Considering what African American artists experienced throughout American history and in the face of constant racism and hardship, it resonates even more powerfully. "Landscape," though a very typical, unassuming name, shows so much under the surface once you start searching. Thank you. Editor: It’s been my pleasure. Woodruff created an opportunity to meditate on that generation’s sense of place in a world of struggle. One can easily feel a sense of their world even now, nearly a century later.