1889, Emile Bernard, Wheat Harvest -- Hammer Museum (Los Angeles)
From the museum label: The pastoral peninsula of Brittany, on the northwest coast of France, inspired the theme of harvesting grain, a task undertaken by many Breton peasants. Wheat Harvest may depict a location near Saint-Briac, where Bernard stayed in 1889. Rather than portraying a recognizable place, however, the landscape, made up of basic forms and unmodulated colors, offers a "synthetic" rendition of the subject of wheat harvesting, with wheat representing the Resurrection in Christian iconography. The clear separation of colors, simple linear forms, and decorative flatness are also reminiscent of Japanese woodblock prints. Objects and figures take on an abstracted quality, and the various elements of the composition--the patches of green grass below the horizon line, the shrubbery and tree in the background, the Calvary cross (symbol of mystical Breton Catholicism) on the distant hilltop, the toiling figures in the foreground, and the farmhouse roof at the upper left--all play distinct roles. The monolithic quality of the haystacks also suggests the ancient menhirs located in the Breton town of Carnac.
1889, Emile Bernard, Wheat Harvest -- Hammer Museum (Los Angeles)
From the museum label: The pastoral peninsula of Brittany, on the northwest coast of France, inspired the theme of harvesting grain, a task undertaken by many Breton peasants. Wheat Harvest may depict a location near Saint-Briac, where Bernard stayed in 1889. Rather than portraying a recognizable place, however, the landscape, made up of basic forms and unmodulated colors, offers a "synthetic" rendition of the subject of wheat harvesting, with wheat representing the Resurrection in Christian iconography. The clear separation of colors, simple linear forms, and decorative flatness are also reminiscent of Japanese woodblock prints. Objects and figures take on an abstracted quality, and the various elements of the composition--the patches of green grass below the horizon line, the shrubbery and tree in the background, the Calvary cross (symbol of mystical Breton Catholicism) on the distant hilltop, the toiling figures in the foreground, and the farmhouse roof at the upper left--all play distinct roles. The monolithic quality of the haystacks also suggests the ancient menhirs located in the Breton town of Carnac.