Gustave Caillebotte

Gustave Caillebotte

the Yerres, Rain

circa 1875

     That particularly poignant tap of water hitting water resounds strongly from this piece. Drawn from the river’s reflection, the tree trunks seem to form the shapes of hidden musical notes, each shivering in tune with the individual water droplets as they gently riddle the water bed. Sectioned into three slightly diagonal registers (rather like those of a musical sheet), the composition of this picture, partially inspired from the likes of japonisme, invites the eye just as much as the ear into experiencing a mélange of visual and audible textures, bearing one’s senses in the direction of Impressionistic ideals and of how truly to commune with nature. Each of the four natural elements can be seen and thus felt, with Air determining the force and drift of the rain; with Fire concentrated in the dappled, pungent rays of sun and indeed in the suggestion of photosynthesis procuring the lush, healthy greenery; with Water consuming the ‘belly’ of the scene; and with Earth forming a dual base - that of the literal ground, here bordered with a stretch of hewn timber, and that from which the remaining two registers rhythmically rise on a two-dimension plane, beautifully but ironically counterbalancing the fall of rain with a unified ascension of musical strokes.

Dutch Clockwork: Gouda (South Holland)

Gouda Royal Faience Studio (Plateelbakkerij)

Art Nouveau Clock

circa 1920

     One should be able to tell instantly that this clock is of a high-quality make. Beautifully hand-painted, as all Gouda earthenware creations usually are, the shell of this clock seemingly quivers with the lethargic stirrings of its bees and bobbing flower buds. A weightlessness of light colours imbues its body with a pulse that is slightly ethereal, as if lit from within by a source that has not yet faded since the clock’s crafting nearly one hundred years ago. In addition to these classic turn-of-the-century touches, the stature of the clock is also structured in a style that embodies Art Nouveau ideals: its footing is sturdy but unimposing, with the slight bend to each leg gently drawing together the face with its lower torso, forming a soft-edged silhouette of a suggested triangle (the number three being one element of nature’s flawlessness of pyramidal life structure). The contours of the clock’s stature adhere to similar guidelines, whereby they are confident in their purpose to contain its curves and swimming colours, and remaining all the while humbly reserved in their allotted linear negative space. Though in all, what genuinely conveys the calm beauty of this piece is not, perhaps, the combined effects of its many details, but that of its initial function - the continual, reverberating echoes of each second’s tick, loyal to time since 1920. 

Carmel Georgescu

Carmel Georgescu

Untitled

circa 2010 (?)

     There is an articulate attention to depth in this scene, with the play of light and shadow tip-toeing from our fingertips in the foreground to the far, far expansive background. The heavily-laden branches of the trees almost sag to the ground, but whether they are young and sprightly or of sagely age, the intense colours of the day tile their forms in an incomparable energy that only leaves can naturally translate to the eye. Through the air moist drafts pace, lifting the skirts of the trees and tickling the dewy clumps of grass clinging to the bases of their cool trunks. Here, life in its many shapes is at a standstill; the occasional gulp of water or rustle of wings soothingly pierces the silence, and altogether there breathes in unison the beautifully imperfect indifference of nature to the bigger, or indeed lesser, things in life.