Genre
ROBERT VICKREY (1926–2011)
A Green Thought, about 1999
Egg tempera on gessoed panel, 24 x 17 7/8 in.
Signed (at lower left): Robert Vickrey
EX COLL.: [Tree’s Place Gallery, Orleans, Massachusetts]; to private collection, 1999
Vickrey’s high level of craftsmanship, his skillful manipulation of space, and most importantly, his concern for translating the human condition into paint, are apparent in A Green Thought, which features a massive tree, its sculptural trunk entangled in a profusion of twisted roots and vines. Vickrey, who once declared, “I love to paint old trees,” often paired this motif with solitary, pensive children, as is the case with the present work, which features a blonde-haired girl dressed in a striped shirt and jeans sitting at the base of the tree, her tiny form silhouetted against the patterned shadows of leafage in the sun-dappled background.
Like many of the children that populate Vickrey’s paintings—his models included his four offspring Scotty, Nicole, Carri, and Sean, their friends and playmates, and later his own grandchildren—his subject is lost in thought. Indeed, Vickrey is widely known for his sympathetic portrayal of adolescents caught in those transitional moments between childhood and adulthood. Conceived as “identifiable individuals who pose as universal archetypes of innocence,” Vickrey’s insightful interpretations of the hopes, fears, and anxieties of youth represent a key component of his personal iconography, so much so that such images often graced the covers of scholarly books and articles devoted to learning and child psychology.
Accordingly, the title of A Green Thought is apt, alluding to both the contemplative posture of the model as well as to the dominant color in nature, which evokes a sense of growth, refreshment, and juvenility. The girl’s youthfulness stands out in contrast to the aged tree that dominates the tightly cropped composition, which is conceived, as was the case in many of Vickrey’s paintings, from a high vantage point. In viewing the interlaced forms that envelop the tree trunk, one might surmise that Vickrey intended the painting as a pictorial allusion to the complexities and challenges that the girl will face in the future. Or, is the tree meant to protect this still fragile child? Suffice to say, Vickrey’s perceptive approach to depicting modern adolescence is as impressive as the exacting technique he uses to denote the myriad textures of the tree—an old soul in comparison to the youngster that sits at its base.
