Beautiful weather prompts a decision to head off to Glasgow to try a new restaurant and go to a museum. The connection works perfectly. The train from Leuchars glides into Dundee station as the connecting express to Queen Street arrives at the next platform. Front door to hotel room in two and a bit hours .... and the freedom of having no car to park.
The route along the banks of the Tay a peaceful mixture of river and fields dotted with lambs and foals . One of the UK's prettiest - but least appreciated - train journeys. The train almost empty so the lady with the refreshment trolley asks if we'd like two biscuits with our coffees..
We pass acres of reed beds. The reeds are cut and shipped off to English owners of thatched cottages. A profitable if unusual sideline for the farmers.
In town the Kelvingrove Art Gallery has a wonderful exhibit of works by the Glasgow Boys. There's far too much to take in on one day. We 've come to see a work by Joseph Crawhall. The solidity of the cows balanced by the balletic litheness of the swallows. The simplicity of style and bright colours must have been revolutionary in their day.
The other reason for our journey is a doleful but very Scottish work painted by a 23 year old James Guthrie. It was controversial when first shown but is a masterpiece of understatement and completely devoid of colour. Not something you'd want at home but technically brilliant. You can almost feel the cold and hear the snow crunching underfoot. Every face registering a different emotion.
After studying it in silence 'The Font' observes that one of the mysteries of the piece ( and there are many ) is the singular absence of women . Every character is male. Were women considered too emotional to attend a funeral - even if it was their own childs? Angus is at a loss to answer this.
11 comments:
Beautiful weather and trains running on time. Something the organisers of the Olympics opening ceremony in France would envy!
The James Guthrie painting is almost unbearable moving. A contrast to his gentle and much loved 'To Pastures New' picture in Aberdeen Art Gallery.
It is interesting that "The Font" mentioned there are no women. I am probably wrong, but my first impression was seeing a lady (6th head from the left - wearing a hat) turning her head away from the tiny coffin, and the presence of a dog in front of the mourners. However when this was painted, maybe females were not allowed to attend funerals.
Even in my childhood and youth, women in North East Scotland categorically did not attend the graveside part of a funeral. It was not considered seemly. After the church service the women went back to the home of the deceased and made the final preparations for the funeral tea. When my own mother died in the early 1990s, when I was in my early 30s, I did not go to the cemetery after the church service, out of respect for what my mother considered proper. Very many of the women at the service returned to my father's house with me and there was actually a very gentle and comforting support in that. Although at the same time, I was acutely aware that it was very gendered, and anthropologically dated.
TLOR : Well observed. It could be a woman ... or maybe not. If it is then why only one ? Why don't see the face head on ? Even the obscured faces are looking towards the front. A painting that poses more questions than answers.
Linda's comment is most interesting. I am in the process of imputing my late mother's extensive genealogical records into ancestry.com. She died in 1994. Amongst the McNaughton, McNab, McIntyre, McNiven, McIsaac, McMurdo records was a foot note that when Margaret McNab died in 1835 at the school house at Comrie, Perthshire, "that on the day of the funeral took 40 men to clear snow from path to churchyard". This makes me think that it was only men present at the graveside committal service. It might also have due to the weather conditions.
Another look and I see what I thought was a face is actually a man holding his hat. Lots of questions still in the painting!
I am with Linda on this. In my 50s, (15 years ago), I was not allowed at my husband’s granny’s graveside, at Cairnbulg, just outside Fraserburgh.
When I say “allowed”, I could, of course have insisted, but why would you cause that much offence?
But when my husband died 2 years ago, there was no such view, that older generation having completely died out.
I have mixed views
So much meaning in a painting that would be easy to walk by.
A Scottish friend always averred that women did not to the graveside. She was insistent that it was unacceptable for women to attend.
Such lovely views from the train windows.
Interesting second painting, which has raised many comments.
I realise that it's a very long time since I have been to a burial - the last, I think, was my maternal grandmother in the mid 1970's. Since then, all my family, and many friends, have been cremated.
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