Deconstructing the Grand-Master, (Benjamin Williams Leader) part VI

I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday repainting the Benjamin Williams Leader image of Autumn in Switzerland.  Some really great feedback from Dr Townley helped me to crystalise my thoughts on where I was going with the "deconstruction"....  - Whilst I want to make an image as close to the original as I can, but in much brighter and vibrant colours that Williams-Leader used, I have also been playing around with the theme that the small Chalet / Ski Lodge nestling in the centre of the picture, my imagination would suggest that by now, the prperty is likely to have been replaced with a hotel.  The Glacier on the top left will have probably melted by now (global warming) and many of the trees would be affected with Acid Rain no doubt!... In fact, most of the trees will have been felled (in the 1890s the dominant tree would have been the Norway Spruce, especially in Alpine Switzerland) and replaced with faster growing, more commercially viable Northern White Cedars...


I decided to leave the representation for a day or so, in order for me to re-approach it and correct any failings.  I always find it best to walk away for a couple of days and sleep at night with the happy image bouncing around in my head, before re-approaching the painting with a renewed critical eye....

Here is where I am up to so far...

There is still a lot to do on this painting before I will be happy with it.  For example, the left and right foreground needs to be completed. In particular, the addition of a Mountain Ash to the mid-left, the addition of two contemporary children (now on mountain bikes), taking a rest, and the completion of the Hotel Nietzsche, to the centre right of the picture.  This is the item that I want to explore much further.

I chose the name of the Gesthof / Hotel to reflect the 'German' Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, who would have been not only alive, but also very near, if not present, at the time this original painting was made.  I noted that Nietzsche was born in what was then the Kingdom Prussia, but denounced his citizenship of  of Prussia, whilst he was Professor of Classical Philosophy at Basel University, Switzerland.  He therefore may very well have visited this place around the time of it's reproduction in 1878 by Williams-Leader.  By this time, Nietzsche had been in Switzerland for almost 10 years and was coming to the end of his attachment to the University of Basel. He was declining into poor health, which he had suffered from many ailments most of his life, and had to resign from his post as Professor at Basel. He was however, able to provide for himself, living from the small pension that he secured from the University and the generosity of his friends.  It is known that Nietzsche often travelled to seek better, more agreeable climates to improve his health and continued his philosophical work, writing independantly until 1889. My research suggests that he spent many summers in Sils Maria near St. Moritz in Switzerland.   The reference to Nietzsche is also very much a play on the theme of Nihilism, linked with our contemporary Global Warming and nihilist consumerism.

My conversation with Dr Townley helped a great deal in prompting and helping to generate ideas. For example, we thought of putting up  a dummy website advertising Hotel Nietzsche, and various other contemporary vehicles to draw attention to it.  Dr Townley recommended that I try to make more suggestive references in the imaging, to lead the viewer into further interest, to make the scene and associated artifacts more open to the viewer's curiosity. I like this approach and I think there is much to do both as opportunities and to finish this piece.