Strange Nativity

After the strenuous work of the War years and the death of a baby daughter, Dad turned to pictures for children and a chance to unleash his imagination generally. He still had to undertake arduous commissions involving close attention to accurate detail, but in between are scattered examples of his own unique voice.

We lived in the New Forest and at this time the ponies wandered everywhere in the village. All the gates were tied up with complicated knots because of the ponies’ skill at undoing them and raiding the gardens in the night. So they were constant presences in our lives.

This picture was painted in 1948 and the brick air raid shelter remains as a memory of the awful War years. But the pony with her foal represents a new beginning. ‘Nativity’ usually signifies the religious festival and it’s possible to see the huge navigation buoys on the right as the three kings perhaps.

But they may well mean something quite different. There is darkness and weight around this side of the painting while the brighter light and the little boat called ‘Providence’ on the left side seems to feel like hopefulness. It is a strange picture indeed and a strong atmosphere of something beyond the obvious pervades the surface.

Unfortunately we only have this black and white image from Dad’s album but maybe one day we’ll track down the original which we think was bought by an American collector.

[PB]

 

Richard did two other nativities, a drawing (unfinished) around 1928 and a large painting set on a farm in 1949.