Dimensions: support: 1226 x 2438 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Carel Weight | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This is Carel Weight's "The Dogs," a large-scale piece held at the Tate. The scene is so crowded, almost unsettling, but the sky is rather beautiful. How do you interpret this work? Curator: It's interesting how Weight uses the everyday – a cafe, a crowd – to explore anxieties of post-war Britain. Consider the title: "The Dogs". Does it allude to the greyhound races, class dynamics, or something more metaphorical relating to marginality and societal alienation? Editor: Marginality, that’s interesting. I hadn't thought about it that way. Curator: Weight often portrays figures on the periphery. The somewhat dystopian feel, the anonymity of the crowd... It invites us to consider who is included and excluded in the narrative of progress. What do you make of the fiery sky juxtaposed with the grimy scene below? Editor: I see that contrast now. It's as if beauty and decay coexist. I’ll remember that.
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Like much social realism, The Dogs shows people engaged in group or communal activities. This painting is closely related to W P Frith’s Derby Day, which is on display in room 15. While Frith set his painting of a crowd against the back drop of the famous horse race at Epsom, Weight chose the urban and more working-class setting of Wandsworth dog track in south west London. Frith’s social panorama suggests a corruptible society, whereas Weight’s affectionate depiction of the crowd dispersing into the twilight evokes a sense of fleeting companionship. Gallery label, September 2004
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