Red Roofs 

Alfred Hutty made ‘Red Roofs’ with oil on canvas, using materials familiar to most landscape painters of his time. Yet consider the character of oil paint itself: pigment suspended in linseed oil, applied with brushes made of animal hair, each element a commodity extracted and processed through complex global systems. Hutty uses the medium to build up layers of impasto that capture the vibrant colors and textures of the Charleston architecture he favored. The visible brushstrokes speak to the labor involved, a physical record of the artist's hand and vision. Hutty's artistic process reflects the economic realities of his time, where the commodification of art materials intersected with the artist's individual expression. Paying attention to the materials and processes used can reveal much about the artist's relationship to labor, production, and the broader social context.