Tractor and Plough

Initialled oil on canvas.

Rothenstein gives a little insight into his paintings in the book Looking at Paintings by Michael Rothenstein, published by Routledge in 1947, the same year that he painted Tractor and Plough.

In the foreward Rothenstein says:

“A good picture can never be explained… if you look at a work only to pull it to pieces the pleasure is gone.”

For the book Rothenstein picked 20 paintings, including one of his own, which were his own personal choice and spins his own commentary about the work, mostly the composition and very little about the use of colour.

In the selection Rothenstein has picked work by artists such as Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland, John Piper, Edward Bawden and Duncan Grant plus many more.

When looking at the piece above it is very clear to see how those selected artists have influenced his painting, from the composition to the colours and the shapes Rothenstein used.

Commenting on his own painting, Rothenstein states “It will be obvious that the features of the existing scene were not drawn literally, but with reference to the varied sweep of the design. Shapes I specially liked and colours – some of them scattered outside the actual area I was painting – were brought into closer relation. The intention was to create a single family of forms and colours.”

This can also be seen in Tractor and Plough.

The style that Rothenstein has used here, and the imagery, can be seen in one of the artists very early lithographs, 'Plough and Sun', 1951, Sidey Ref. 5. We can see the shapes, composition and romanticism come through in both the lithograph and this oil painting. 

Framed size: 74 x 104 cm

Exhibited at the Mercer Gallery, Harrogate Look, Look Again! exhibition, 2025.