Figs 1972

Curator: This is "Figs" by Mary Fedden, a British artist born in 1915. Note the date, printed right into the image: Lundi 24 Juillet 1972. Editor: It feels like a memory, or a dream of one, doesn't it? The figs themselves, so precise, against that misty, evocative background. Curator: Fedden's still lifes often invoke a sense of place and time. Figs, of course, have rich associations with abundance and fertility throughout history. Editor: And that cut fig in a cup... it's almost unsettling, isn't it? Like a little secret. It's got this amazing mix of simplicity and strangeness. Curator: Perhaps the artist is also inviting us to consider the transience of beauty and nature, and the cycle of life in general. Editor: Maybe. Or maybe it's just a really great fig. Either way, it lingers in your mind long after you've looked away.