1980’s Provence Watercolours
In 1980 Norman first travelled to Provence. Norman’s wife Anna described how, after an awful winter in The Yorkshire Dales they left for Provence. It was snowing in the North of England, sleeting in the South of England and cloudy and raining in Northern France. When they got to Provence it was spring with butterflies, fruit blossom and grape vines. It was not just the weather and scenery that drew them to Provence, it was also living and painting in the same places as Van Gough. Norman would find a nice vineyard, olive grove of orchard to work in and sit and paint. Often, he would return to the same spot for several days, painting the changing weather and light.
Garden in Rain, Spring, Provence 28 x 36 cm. 1981
Large Tree in an Olive Grove near St. Remy 30 x 35.5 cm. 1981
NA (Rie Sunflowers) 35 x 29 cm. 1984
Sun in Olive Trees and Distant Landscape 33 x 37.5 cm. 1986
Field of Sunflowers. North Provence 32 x 37 cm. 1986
Old Olive Trees. Bright Sunlight, Red Shadows 28.5 x 33 cm. 1987
Sun in Olive Trees. Windy Weather 30 x 33 cm. 1990
Great Tree amongst Olive Trees and Crows oil on canvas 122 x 127 cm 1981
Like a Window oil on canvas 102 x 103 cm 1985
Like a Window oil on canvas 1985
It is happy in mood, and prevailingly yellow in colour, pretending to be a picture of van Gogh at work in a vineyard, using a square device as an aid to composition. Vincent said, in a letter to Theo, that it was “like a window”. Hence the title. But it could equally be called “The Artist in his Environment”, and it could also be considered as a self-portrait, for Norman had a way of identifying with artists whom he admired.
The figure is very generalised, though it has a hat and a beard; Norman himself wore a straw hat in the fields, and was quite capable of growing a beard, and did so from time to time. The artist sits on a stool, under vines, and paints the vineyard that he has become part of. His straw hat, his loose shirt and nondescript trousers are all of the same ochre hue as the light-coloured earth of Mas de la Dame, the plantation under Les Baux where we spent much time in the years between 1981 and 1992. “Like a Window” is a picture of the artist’s happiness in being part of nature, merged into the warm earth and the growing vines and olive-trees.
By Anna Adams