Jul 9, 2012

Magpie Tales # 125

Tess at Willow Manor asks us to critique this painting for Magpie 125.

Chilmark Hay, 1951 by Thomas Hart Benton

    "You seem unusually thoughtful today, Simpleforth. Is anything the matter?"
    "I was wondering what Constable would make of it."
    "I can't bring to mind a Constable in the art class?"
    "No sir. John Constable. English painter. 1776 to 1837. Romantic landscapes of an England long vanished, where sturdy yokels and sturdy horses toiled in the fields when they weren't getting their haywains stuck in rivers.  Not like this one, which is certainly more hay than wain where some of the hay seems to be falling off the wain and a horse with an unnaturally long neck is apparently bent on homeward plodding his weary way to a farmhouse with a garage at the side but no door.  I mean look at it, sir! It's a "Haymaking" by David Hockney out of Vincent van Gogh! And the haycocks look like Yorkshire puddings under a plastic sheet."
    "If I may interrupt the flow of your appraisal for a moment, Simpleforth. What's this about a haywain stuck in a river?"
    "That was before the invention of the car-wash, sir.  None of the analyses of Constable's picture mention that.  Maybe the wain isn't stuck in the river. Maybe the yokels pay a groat or two to wash the wain in the river before high-tailing it to the haymeadow to load up. It is empty after all. Maybe they could wash the horses as well. Or maybe they've already sold the hay on the black market and are heading home by river so's to cover their tracks."
    "Have you been smoking something behind the bike-sheds again, Simpleforth?"
    "And have you noticed how beat-up the haywain is?"
    "You can hardly see the haywain . . . "
    "Not that one, sir. Constable's. It looks ready for the bonfire. It's hanging together. It's kindling. The sort of rubbish you  sell to 'We Buy AnyWain.com' "
    "I'm afraid I'm not following you at all, Simpleforth. Which I must say is not unusual. Just get on with your appraisal of Benton's painting and hand it in by lunchbreak."
    "Lunchbreak, sir, would be rough cider in leathern bottles and massive hunks of bread and cheese and a snooze under the haystack while the honest sweat dried on their brows and only the milkmaids for company - elements conspicuously absent from Benton's effort."
    "Perhaps that's as well. Um . . er . . would you like to speak to the school Nurse?"
    "Why sir?  Does she paint haywains as well?"

Reader's as puzzled as was the art teacher by Simpleforth's discourse are referred to the picture below: -

Part of "The Haywain" by John Constable.




15 comments:

  1. lol....talk about being stuck in a moment...or maybe just in constables painting...cool take...and thanks for the extra art too..

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  2. I thought Bentons horse looked a little odd ... maybe its crossed with a giraffe.

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  3. What can I say but VERY silly! (and quite the study in contrast)

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  4. You always make me laugh with the first line...and I giggle all the way through to the end...Simpleforth...hee...

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    1. Thank you, Tess. In the classroom, Simpleforth's first line (and most of the others) has his teachers tearing their hair out.

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  5. the haycocks look like Yorkshire puddings under a plastic sheet. (I see it now!) He IS observant, I must say :)

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    1. Actually, Simpleforth swithered between the "Yorkshire puddings . . " and "the Living Dead bursting through the greensward." Observant, maybe. He's also a born flapjaw.

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  6. Apart from the funny setting you so masterfully construct, I guess we are criticising Benton here. OK, in Constable's time we did not have cameras, so accuracy was the aim, whereas Benton had to create a different style and chose ways of bending reality to create a mood. I know you already know all this, so I am blushing with embarrassment.

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    1. Dear Stafford -
      Constable was a near contemporary of Beethoven (1770 - 1827) and I can never hear the 2nd. movement of his 6th. symphony ("By the brookside", Pastoral Symph.) without thinking of the haywain in the stream, and the painter or the composer wondering if it supplied anyone's drinking water.
      Regards
      Leviticus P. Simpleforth.

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  7. As a former art student, I give Simpleforth ten out of ten for his summing up of the painting, and I give you, Dr FTSE, a gold star for the brilliant 'We Buy AnyWain.com', which all your UK readers should understand better than those from the rest of the world, for it's a delightful skit on the annoying TV advert 'We Buy Any Car.com'! Hehehe!

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    1. "Simpleforth Autos" will cut you a better deal than "We Buy AnyWain" on any wain you care to bring round to our yard.

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  8. Utterly delightful! Benton's horse reminded me of a cartoon character in a Disney movie ... I've certainly learned a lot today! From you and the good comment makers!

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  9. Delightful critique, very refreshing read. And now I know where to go when it is time to sell my wain.

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  10. Just so much fun! I love Constable - and Simpleforth is making some interesting points there. Just great. k.

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