Silent Seasons - Winter 1968

Editor: Will Barnet’s "Silent Seasons - Winter," created in 1968 using acrylic paint, possesses a distinctive calmness. I’m immediately struck by the painting’s flat planes of colour, and the rather still mood it creates. The woman and the bird seem connected through the delicate string. How would you interpret this work based on its form and structure? Curator: The first element that seizes the eye is the interplay of geometric forms. The window acts as a grid, segmenting the scene into structured parts. This use of linear division echoes early modernist approaches. Do you observe how the limited palette contributes? Editor: Yes, the muted greens, blues, and browns create a unified field of colour. It almost flattens the image, diminishing depth. Is that intentional? Curator: Precisely. Barnet utilizes a deliberately reduced palette and a simplified representational style, focusing on the intrinsic relationships between shapes, lines, and colours. Consider the woman’s posture, how does that contribute? Editor: She’s static, almost a part of the geometric arrangement. It looks like the formal elements are used to compose an intimate still life with these interesting flat forms! Curator: The composition reflects his emphasis on design. By prioritizing the interplay of form and colour, the artwork encourages introspection and invites an intellectual appreciation of the structural dynamics within the painted surface. Have your feelings about it changed? Editor: Definitely! At first I just saw the calm scene, but now I appreciate how meticulously each shape and colour contributes to the whole composition and a sense of stillness. Curator: Indeed, moving beyond surface representation unveils its thoughtful arrangement of formal components, providing a renewed vision.