In this episode, we’ll be visiting Children at Play by Edward Atkinson Hornel at the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery in Scotland. Welcome to Art, Culture & Books with me, Anthony King.
We’ve previously visited another of Edward Atkinson Hornel’s paintings on the other side of Scotland at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow called “The Dance of Spring”. I described that one as “a standout and bizarre, beautiful and peculiar all at the same time”. Now, this painting, Children at Play from 1893 has a magnetism! The Museum tell us that he “become drawn to the symbolism of religious and Celtic motifs. His technique favoured thick ‘impasto paint and rich colour that emphasised pattern and texture. Children at Play, depicting madcap children revelling in the joys of nature, epitomises this new approach.”
By Anthony King (c)