PAINTING THE SEASONS

Ahead of a new exhibition, curator STEVE MARSHALL looks in depth at the different ways in which painters and printmakers craft artistic responses to the unfolding year

- STEVE MARSHALL

For the landscape artist the impact of seasonal change provides renewed and stimulating subject matter as the months pass. As lockdown brought many of us closer to the natural rhythms of the seasons, the filter of another artist’s vision and imagination can help us to appreciate the small wonders of the turning year and look more closely at the world that surrounds us. As well as the changes to trees, plants and wildlife, which are conspicuous at different times of year, the agricultural calendar has a dramatic effect on the appearance of the rural landscape. The work that unfolded there as the seasons progressed was also appealing to many artists before mechanisation changed the face of British farming. Many of the artworks made in response to these ideas are explored in The Seasons: Art of the Unfolding Year, a new exhibition that I have co-curated with Gill Clarke at St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery.

Winter is a season of short days and darkness, when nature appears dormant or even dead, so it has traditionally been a time for seeking comfort and company around the warmth of the hearth. Visually it is often depicted as a season of snow and ice and the transformation of landscapes under snow has long been a popular subject with artists. Joseph Farquharson’s snowbound sheep are the stuff of countless Christmas cards. For an artist like Adrian Allinson, whose work was marked by a fondness for dramatic lighting effects, snow created a sparkling child’s wonderland.