Beyond the Radiant Valley (Reiderfurka) 1918

Editor: Here we have Alice Bailly’s "Beyond the Radiant Valley (Reiderfurka)," an oil on canvas from 1918. There's such an intensity in the color, and the forms, while suggesting a landscape, are very fractured. It's not representational, exactly. What do you make of it? Curator: Note how Bailly employs a non-naturalistic palette and angular forms. Consider the vibrant yellow, almost aggressive in its application, that dominates the canvas. The interplay of this yellow with the blues and greens forces our attention to the picture plane itself. Editor: It's as if the landscape is exploding, but held together at the same time. Curator: Precisely. It's critical to recognize how Bailly manipulates the formal elements to achieve this tension. Observe the deliberate juxtaposition of curved and sharp lines. These lines carve out space, rather than describe objects. The suggestion of a landscape, the essence of "nature", is constructed by these contrasts. Are we looking *through* this abstract formation to a further, radiant space, or are we presented with solely what lays on this very canvas? Editor: So, you are saying it’s the relationship between the lines and colors themselves that truly matters, not whether it’s a faithful depiction of nature? Curator: Exactly. We must examine the structural relationship of form and colour to fully understand what this landscape might express. Is the effect successful in your view? Editor: It’s certainly opened my eyes to seeing a painting, especially a landscape, in terms of its pure, formal qualities, rather than just as a picture of something. Curator: An awareness of this allows a fresh perspective of similar works of this period. We become alert to their formal vocabulary.