Untitled [unloading ship at harbour]

Joseph Edward Southall 1861 - 1944

Summary

Set against a seascape background is the large figure of a man standing on some stone steps in the foreground. The man is nude apart from the loincloth he wears and, although he is facing the viewer, his head is bent downwards so his face cannot be fully seen. His head is bent down because he is carrying a large sack over his right shoulder, lifting both arms across his chest in order to hold it in place. The majority of the background is kept simple as the male figure is the central focus, but in the bottom right hand corner seen from an aerial viewpoint is a ship that is being unloaded. There is also another ship seen in the harbour in the distance in the middle ground. More than half of the composition is filled by the sky which is rendered using horizontal lines and filled with large, billowing clouds.