Description
Te burao (The Hibiscus Tree) – a foreground made entirely of cut wood
At the far left edge a massive dark trunk rises, reaching from the bottom of the canvas to the top. Across the middle of the right half lies a felled tree: its long trunk runs horizontally, and severed branches and roots stick out of it. In the foreground stretches a broad pale grey and lilac surface, strewn with cut branches, long leaves and orange and pink shapes; a thin dark bough arches across it. Over this surface walks a small black dog. In the middle distance a strip of sand and pale blue water shine out, on the right stands a hut with a dark red roof and beside it a dark figure. Above, dense green foliage runs the whole width. The work is held by the Art Institute of Chicago under the inventory number 1923.308.
The tree of the title and the wood on the ground
The title names a tree, but the tree it names stands at the edge. The middle and the foreground are taken by something else: the wood that has come down. The felled trunk, the severed branches, the cut leaves and the scattered fronds occupy almost a third of the canvas. The picture is therefore not a view of a tree but a view of what is left of trees on the ground.
The dog among the cut wood
In the middle of that scattered surface stands a small black dog, the only living thing in the foreground. It is painted small and without emphasis, but because it is dark and moving the eye stops at it. It is the dog that gives the foreground its scale: only beside it can one see how large the branches around it are.
The inscription the museum names and which we can see
At the lower right, on a dark red band, the inscription with the title and the signature with the year is painted. The museum record states exactly this, and at the lower right. Record and canvas therefore agree, which with inscriptions is not always the case.
How a hand-painted reproduction is made
Every reproduction here is hand-painted in oil on canvas, stroke by stroke. In this motif the foreground is the hardest part: it is built from many separate branches and leaves, and if they melt into one surface the picture loses its front third. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval.
- Subject: a massive trunk at the left, a felled tree across the middle, cut branches and a black dog in front.
- Technique: oil on canvas, dark green above and a pale surface below.
- Sizes: landscape format, from 40 x 30 cm to 200 x 150 cm; 80 x 60 cm and 100 x 75 cm are often chosen.
- Of note: the tree the picture is named after stands at the far left edge.
If the same period interests you, see also Fatata te Miti (By the Sea), Arearea (Joyousness) and There is the Temple (Parahi te marae). The museum gives the measurement as height by width: 68 x 90.7 cm.
