Rose Nudes in a Landscape 

Harry Phelan Gibb’s “Rose Nudes in a Landscape” is rendered in a style that owes a clear debt to post-impressionist painting of the late 19th century. The work is achieved through the application of pigments in visible brushstrokes, which builds up a surface with clear textural presence. The resulting image vibrates with a sense of light and space, but it is far from illusionistic. You sense the deliberate making, the labor of the painter. The title is interesting here, since it highlights the use of color as a primary element. The roseate hues, suffused throughout the composition, speak to an aesthetic sensibility, one perhaps intended to imbue the scene with a certain emotional tone. What is the nature of the landscape and the figures within it? It asks you to consider the degree to which the artistic process shapes our experience of the visual world. Gibb clearly engaged with the skilled traditions of painting, yet here, the artist is more interested in affect than accuracy. Through such works, we can reassess traditional notions of art, craft, and design.