Friday, July 13, 2007

The Friday Outhouse

Ralth Hulett outhouse painting

Around and about the mid 1940s, when Ralph Hulett was drawing his $60 weekly paycheck from Walt Disney Productions, he used to paint small watercolor paintings of the scene above. And give them away as gifts...

My mother tells me that he painted them before they got married, painted them after they got married, painted them depicting a variety of seasons (this one is, obviously, Spring.)

In the great long ago, my grandmother had this particular painting hanging in the hallway outside her bathroom. As a kid, I always liked it (particularly the sprinter coming out of the house. No big question about where he's headed...)

3 comments:

Pete Emslie said...

I love paintings like this! Rather than just painting a straight landscape, Ralph has created a whimsical bit of entertainment based on the reality of the buildings and setting he observed. The perspective has been exaggerated and cartooned, creating a delightful and dynamic composition, and the addition of the frantic cartoon silhouette in the distance gives it some real humour and animated quality.

The question is - why do we never see stuff like this in art galleries? You might see abstracted or stylized landscapes, yet never something that has been cartooned. I feel that this whimsical approach to landscape painting should be considered just as legitimate an art form as all of the straight renderings that flourish in the galleries.

It's always a delight to see your Dad's work, Steve. Thanks for continuing to share it!

df said...

wow, great watercolor! Thanks for sharing steve.
I love watercolors from the 30's and 40's . THe style is so real. I wouldn't call it "cartooned" at all. The artists just painted what they saw and felt without projecting some bizarrely realistic camera generated feel to it. Would love to see more!

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