The Pond 1908

Curator: Looking at George Washington Lambert’s "The Pond," painted in 1908 with oil paint, I am struck by its subdued but sensual mood. It’s almost as if he caught a private moment between the bathers, while it makes one recall times gone by. What’s your take? Editor: The first thing I notice is the texture – that broken, crackled surface in the lower right, it gives the painting such an age, like time has literally eaten into it. You almost feel as though it is being excavated. That impasto he uses in other areas really catches the light. Curator: Absolutely, there is that raw, almost primitive handling of paint which contrasts so markedly with the subject itself. This juxtaposition brings attention to the socio-historical dimensions of artistic labor: look at the fashionable clothing versus these nude and barely clothed figures enjoying a simple pond bath. Editor: It’s a beautiful study in contrasts—the light catching the children, versus that impenetrable dark mass that shrouds part of the background figures. It reminds me a little of sun dappled moments when you glimpse people through thick foliage... moments of hazy recollection. Do you see that link to his portraiture work too? Curator: Without a doubt, Lambert brings his keen observations of the figure into this so-called landscape. It’s about observing material culture—clothing, gesture—set against a seemingly idyllic rural space. How might industrial advancements and a certain urbanisation allow this leisure? Editor: It's almost as if he's saying, look, even in our most natural moments, we are shaped by the artifice around us. Those social restraints we imagine we are freed of do still mark us in a very intimate way. The gaze, their postures...it is all staged. Curator: And staged for whom? The artist's gaze, of course, the very labor that manifests this image. Think too, what sort of gendered roles and expectations come into play, which have changed, though we are still working to overcome this. Editor: Absolutely! And that staged aspect makes this work far more interesting than some other impressionistic pond or lake scenes. Thank you for shining new light on Lambert’s work today; I can already anticipate thinking of his use of materiality with a fresh perspective.