Title:
Haystack of Voulangis
Creator/Contributor:
Sugimoto, Henry
Date:
1932
Identifier:
92.97.77
Format:
painting
oil on canvas
France
Inscription:
Signed in medium, bottom left corner: H. Sugimoto, 1932. Written on back, top center: Haystack of Voulangis
Description:
Central image of three haystacks in a field to the left of dirt road curving up from bottom right. A man pushes a wheelbarrow
at the curve of the road away from viewer under a large tree rising up on right. In the background, bluish trees and in the
distance left two trees on a hill. The sky is overcast with hints of blue. Stretched and framed.
Historical Note:
For many Impressionists at the turn of the century, the beautiful light and peaceful farming rituals of the French countryside
provided a host of views for the newly fashionable practice of plein air painting. In this landscape from Voulangis, Sugimoto
pays homage to the tradition in a composition that includes three of the famous French haystacks that so captivated Claude
Monet in particular. In the painting, Sugimoto emphasizes the powerful effects of light on the landscape by way of the colors
it produces: the vibrant greens of the fields and the many hues of the blue sky. However, while the Impressionists took interest
in the ways in which the surface effects of light and color made objects seem less heavy, Sugimoto follows a different trajectory.
He uses thick paint and closely related colors to accentuate the weight and movement of the haystacks, clouds, and other objects
in the painting. This approach reflects Sugimoto's immersion in a contemporary Expressionist st!
yle that favored study of emotional effects of color on objects in the environment. The small figure pushing a wheelbarrow
filled with hay on the lower right is similar to Sugimoto's other figures from his early period. Dwarfed by the natural landscape,
the farmer, like the nuns in Sugimoto's "Two Nuns and Church" (1931), goes about his business in a routine manner. His rhythmic
movement evokes a sense of comfort and stability that Sugimoto would return to in his depictions of farm labor and life in
his rural hometown of Hanford, California.
Subject:
France
Trees
Haystacks
Men
Wheelbarrows
Landscapes (representations)