Heavy Structures in a Landscape Setting
About this artwork
During the 1920s William McCance lived in London, where this work was painted. The semi-abstract style shows the influence of the London avant-garde art scene on McCance. It is comparable with works by Wyndham Lewis and William Roberts, and indeed, the artist had a close connection with Roberts, who rented a room in McCance’s flat. The forms in the painting have an ominous feel. The structures in the foreground suggest a military gun battery, while the white shapes at the top of the picture may be coastal cliffs, primed against attack. An unusual feature of the work is the shaped hardboard frame laid over the canvas, which underlines the modernity of the composition.
Updated before 2020
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artist:William McCance (1894 - 1970) Scottish
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title:Heavy Structures in a Landscape Setting
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date created:Dated 1922
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materials:Oil on canvas with irregular seven-sided shaped hardboard sheet, painted white, laid on top
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measurements:Image (visible): 68.80 x 83.50 cm; Canvas: 71.20 x 91.70 cm; Framed: 81.10 x 100.20 x 6.00 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1992
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accession number:GMA 3612
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gallery:
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subject:
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glossary:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
William McCance
William McCance
McCance was born in a suburb of Glasgow and studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1911-5. In 1918 he married a fellow student, Agnes Miller Parker (one of Britain's leading wood-engravers), and they moved to London two years later. In the early 1920s McCance developed a machine-inspired, near...