Inside a Weekend Cabin

Patrick Caulfield 1936 - 2005

Summary

The interior of a cabin with a simple square table, bench and three stools. The entire scene is painted in solid brown without detail, with the perspective executed in a complex linear style typical of the artist. On the table, in high contrast to the rest of the canvas, there is a pure white tablecloth. The tablecloth, painted in acrylic so as not to yellow over time, “creates a reflection of light which is real, rather than representing the effect of light.” Often compared to ‘Inside a Swiss chalet’ (1969) as one of the artist’s first explicit interiors, the choice of the cabin represents an escape from the mundane of everyday life.

Display Label

Inside a Weekend Cabin 1969 Patrick Caulfield b.1936 Oil and acrylic on canvas Caulfield's subjects seem very simple and specific, bold in design and meticulously painted, Yet they are also stereotypes, carefully selected to make subversive observations on the way we live. This is one of two early interiors from the 1960s exotic in theme, but deliberately banal in presentation. The subject is from a 1930s interior design magazine. Apparently a retreat from the routine of daily life, this idyllic log cabin is suffused with irony. Referring to the white tablecloth, painted in acrylic to keep its whiteness for longer, the artist wrote: This is the object introduced into the interior for the "weekend". It is emphasised in the painting. Its reflected light is real rather than being an area painted to represent the effect of light... The use of perspective to give an illusion of depth and the black linear description of form contradict the abstract flatness of the background. Gift of the Contemporary Art Society 1972.36