Bathers, Woodland 1915

Ernest Lawson’s “Bathers, Woodland” is made with oil on canvas. The painting has a thick, almost crusty surface, built up from layers of paint. The colors are muted greens and browns, creating a sense of depth and shade. Lawson seems to be really pushing the limits of the medium, squeezing dollops of color straight from the tube. I can imagine him wanting to capture the feeling of being in the woods, surrounded by trees and water. The figures in the painting are small and indistinct, almost swallowed up by the landscape. There's a sense of the artist observing and responding to nature, his mind working to translate the experience onto the canvas. You get the sense that Lawson is in conversation with the landscape, working with the paint to capture its essence. It's an act of translation, not replication, a conversation with the history of painting itself.