Untitled

"It took her a while to discover modernism; her youthful pictures, filled with nature, peace and golden light, are in thrall to French painting – the Barbizon and Impressionists Schools – and could have been created decades earlier. But then, suddenly, in 1915, amidst the bucolic imaginings, something happens: she paints a family on a beach [Untitled [Family on the Beach] [BC130]]. The picture is now lost, and only one photograph of it exists, but it’s startlingly different to her earlier work. Two women – formed of smudges and tones – in coats and wide-brimmed hats sit on the sand, facing away from the sea. In front of them are two small children, also in hats. Atmosphere supplants detail; the figures are relaxed, unposed, in the midst of talking, playing; their faces are less distinct than their clothes. The still sea is a pale, silvery blue; the same colour as the limpid sky. One of the women’s yellow coat hums like a sun in the centre of the composition. It appears to have been painted quickly, to capture a mood, a particular gesture, the quality of light. Paint has been employed to create a snapshot. The young equestrienne was becoming modern."