This is a painting by Natalia Goncharova called "Picking Apples" (1909). The picture mostly consists of a group of people sitting and standing near an apple tree. Some are relaxing in the grass while others appear to be catching apples as they fall. All of the people are wearing modest clothes of white, pink, or blue. In the background are a couple of hills and a few horses and houses. The scene either takes place at dawn or dusk. It is immediately apparent that this painting was done for a proletariat audience. For example, the emphasis of the painting are the people, who are clearly peasant workers. This can be seen from their simplistic form and color. Their clothes are either one or two solid blocks of color instead of intricately detailed as usually seen in a bourgeois subject. Also, the people are barefoot and their actions involve picking apples or letting their horses graze the land, both of which depict a rural proletariat lifestyle. The emphasis of the painting can also be the close interactions the peasant people have with one another. Goncharova was probably trying to inspire a sense of unity between the people in the proletariat class in the hopes of changing the current social hierarchy of bourgeois power. This can be seen from the relaxed state the subjects are in, from leaning against a tree or lying on their belly in the grass; the comfort they share amongst one another is akin to a family. Furthermore, the ambiguity of the scene taking place either at dawn or dusk, as evidenced by the strokes of pink day merging with the strokes of blue night, creates an idea that these people are not consumed with time. By doing so, Goncharova casts the peasant workers in a positive light, as good, stress-free people who socialize and work on their own time. This was probably Goncharova's idealistic view of how a communist society should be. By painting works such as "Picking Apples," Natalia Goncharova awakened the power and worth of the proletariat people, ideas which in turn certainly helped stir the wheels of the Russian Revolution.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Picking Apples
This is a painting by Natalia Goncharova called "Picking Apples" (1909). The picture mostly consists of a group of people sitting and standing near an apple tree. Some are relaxing in the grass while others appear to be catching apples as they fall. All of the people are wearing modest clothes of white, pink, or blue. In the background are a couple of hills and a few horses and houses. The scene either takes place at dawn or dusk. It is immediately apparent that this painting was done for a proletariat audience. For example, the emphasis of the painting are the people, who are clearly peasant workers. This can be seen from their simplistic form and color. Their clothes are either one or two solid blocks of color instead of intricately detailed as usually seen in a bourgeois subject. Also, the people are barefoot and their actions involve picking apples or letting their horses graze the land, both of which depict a rural proletariat lifestyle. The emphasis of the painting can also be the close interactions the peasant people have with one another. Goncharova was probably trying to inspire a sense of unity between the people in the proletariat class in the hopes of changing the current social hierarchy of bourgeois power. This can be seen from the relaxed state the subjects are in, from leaning against a tree or lying on their belly in the grass; the comfort they share amongst one another is akin to a family. Furthermore, the ambiguity of the scene taking place either at dawn or dusk, as evidenced by the strokes of pink day merging with the strokes of blue night, creates an idea that these people are not consumed with time. By doing so, Goncharova casts the peasant workers in a positive light, as good, stress-free people who socialize and work on their own time. This was probably Goncharova's idealistic view of how a communist society should be. By painting works such as "Picking Apples," Natalia Goncharova awakened the power and worth of the proletariat people, ideas which in turn certainly helped stir the wheels of the Russian Revolution.
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i agree they do look very calm and satisfied.This seems like a ritual to them. the whole town gathering to apple pick. the all are dressed in white as if it was something for there religion.
ReplyDeleteProbably dusk, since the atmosphere is calm and leisurely
ReplyDelete