Tug of War

Ethel Spowers 1890 - 1947

Summary

Against a plain background is the drama of a group of children playing a game of tug of war. The game forms a diagonal running through the composition from top left hand corner to bottom right hand corner and has four figures on either side. All of the children in the game are wearing shorts, some plain, some striped and some checked, and they are all wearing different shades of yellow, blue or red, and they all have their heads down so that none of their faces can be seen. Either side of this are four girls standing and watching the game so that compositionally each corner is weighted. The girl standing on her own to the left with dark plaits in her hair has both hands raised. Similarly the three girls on the opposite side are equally animated, gesticulating wildly, all focusing on the core of the game.