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Into an Older Land

Artist: Crowe, Victoria, OBE RSA · b. 1945

Into an Older Land

"In personal terms, this painting was a return to landscape/ imagery of Scotland - in part a response to the success/ of the retrospective work 'A…

"In personal terms, this painting was a return to landscape/ imagery of Scotland - in part a response to the success/ of the retrospective work 'A Shepherd's Life' at the SNPG.....which was my work from 70 - late 80s..In part it was also the developing imagery/ of more personal issues and content." (Letter from the artist to the RSA Collections Assistant, 2006-05-25)

"In Into an Older Land a bushy Christmas rose, set/ against a bleak snow-covered hill, appears to speak defiantly of life, when all around/ seems dead, and surreal sculpted heads hang at some indeterminate point between/ the window and the clouds..".(Dr Colin Bailey's in "Victoria Crowe, Painted Insights" Antique Collector's Club, 2001)

The sky above the winter landscape is peopled by sourced images. Moving left to right these are the head of a young woman possibly taken from a Renaissance painting, the head of Medusa, a carving of a hand or glove with the latin inscription 'iacut' [lie down] above and flanked by the initials MP, and the larger than life sized statue "Apollon Terroriste" by Ian Hamilton Finlay with Alexander Stoddart in the grounds at Little Sparta, Stonypath, Dunsyre.

© The Artist