, as I wandered through the halls of the National Gallery the urge to challenge myself and write about something that caught my eye because of the simplicity of it not because it was thought provoking was too much. Simple is not a bad thing. However if all art was simple it would in my opinion cease to be relevant. But would Constable be a relevant painter today? No. Weymouth Bay could be captured in an Ansel Adams photograph and probably thought to be more radical and thought provoking because it was an Adams. Not that Im a fan of Adams or a believer in photography as art. In painting what he saw, Constable became relevant.The painting is aesthetically pleasing. The lone shepard with his flock is a nice touch. As a painting it certainly achieves in capturing the isolation of this particular scene. It does invoke feelings of loneliness and as I stated earlier cold. The coldness to Constables approach is also very important. The picture seems to have a rather precise approach to it. Unlike Turner who in his later career seemed to be pursuing an abstract expression to his landscapes, Constables paintings seem to be lacking soul. I wonder if his love of Hampstead is a reason for this. Hampstead, where Constable lived most of his life is a very beautiful neighborhood. However, in my visits there(my parents lived there for a year) I feel an almost gorgeous detachment. Its easy on the eye but rather detached from the world and reality. Constables paintings, being recreations strike me as lacking soul. I dont feel anything for the man in his work. For that matter I think this is the basis for my difficulty with landscapes. I cant appreciate the artist because I feel Im seeing something that has little in it that is personal. This is why Ive struggled with Constable. I cannot take away from his work, his importance and in the end his contribution but I feel his contribution to the world of art, to its effect on me pales in comparison to many of...
