John Atkinson Grimshaw - Autumn Evening [1883]

The desire to conjure up a wistful nostalgia for the past seems to be the motivating force in paintings such as Autumn Evening. The detail is remarkable with a mass of intricate tracery silhouetted against the bold, golden sky, the elegant female figure stepping wearily across the muddy roadway, the whole scene bathed in a sharp clear light. What Grimshaw achieves is a fine sense of atmosphere, poetry, and mood made up of simple components; the enduring fascination of such paintings is their apparent simplicity creating a view back in time, to a golden age that never was.

 

[Christie’s, London - Oil on canvas, 50 x 76 cm]

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