Where can I see Breast Plough at Tresham, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire?

Breast Plough at Tresham, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire is held by Victoria and Albert Museum.

What movement is Breast Plough at Tresham, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire?

Breast Plough at Tresham, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire is associated with Social Realism.

Artwork

Breast Plough at Tresham, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire

Archibald Standish Hartrick , 1940

Breast Plough at Tresham, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire is a watercolor work on paper by the Social Realist artist Archibald Standish Hartrick. It dates from 1940 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

About this work

Overview

Watercolour 'Breast Plough at Tresham, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire' by Archibald Standish Hartrick (1940) captures a winter scene of a lone farmer ploughing with a horse-drawn tool in a rural Gloucestershire landscape.

Subject & Meaning

The painting portrays a fading aspect of British rural life: subsistence agriculture reliant on manual and animal labour, threatened by mechanisation and urbanisation during the early 1940s.

Technique & Style

Executed in loose, expressive watercolour brushstrokes, the work conveys a sense of immediacy, with textured, rough rendering of the muddy field, worn clothing, and surrounding landscape.

History & Provenance

Created for the 'Recording Britain' project (1940), a Pilgrim Trust-funded initiative directed by Sir Kenneth Clark, aiming to document vanishing British traditions and landscapes during wartime.

Context

Part of a broader artistic effort to chronicle Britain's transformation in the early 1940s, alongside other 'Recording Britain' contributions, now housed in various national collections.

Legacy

Preserved as part of Britain's wartime cultural record, the piece remains accessible through national museum collections, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum.