Playmobil Series
Buffalo Hunt. Playmobil I. oil on canvas. 26" x 18". cat 539.
THE PLAYMOBIL PAINTINGS
(HOW THE WEST WAS WON and other paintings)
Playmobil is a modular system of playfigures invented in Germany in the 1970s. thirty years ago, when my son Rupert was born, I had not heard of Playmobil. My friend, the painter Stephen Rose, bought my son a stagecoach and a covered wagon. I was enchanted and am ashamed to admit that Rupert never got them, I kept them both and began to amass my own (comprehensive) collection of Playmobil cowboys and Indians.
A quarter of a century later and on finishing a painting that was essentially subtle modulations of grey I urgently needed an antidote, some colour. not entirely seriously as an abrupt contrast I began this painting of a Buffalo Hunt . I did not imagine that it would be the first of a series of, so far, twenty three Playmobil paintings.
I set up little tableau, scenes of the old wild west, carefully arrange the objects and make a meticulous drawing for each painting.
The strength of these paintings is that they are tightly composed, finely crafted and beautifully realised still lives … of ridiculous subjects; serious, rigorous and formal compositions of bright little modular plastic figures.
(I drifted away from the Wild West theme when my grandson was born in order to paint tractors, elephants and Giraffes).
Cattle at the Waterhole II. oil on canvas. 24" x 24". cat 567.
The first version of
Cattle at the Waterhole was conceived as a composition within an ellipse. I’ve always admired Morandi’s elliptical compositions, both oils and etchings, so I had a carpenter make me some copies of a Victorian elliptical stretcher. My drawing included a couple of cowboys who didn’t make it into the paintings (they were too whimsical), I made a second painting, this square version. What interested me was describing the surface which the toys are standing on and modulating the colour across the surface of the sand coloured hardboard, establishing the plane and either keeping the paintwork dead flat or allowing it to be more busy.
(above) A Herd of Bison in Winter. Playmobil XVIII. 36" x 18". cat 648.
I wanted to make a long horizontal painting. My drawing was wider but Horizontal is problematic because the way that verticals distort; it begins to look absurd as you move further from the centre of the composition.
to paint this line of Cavalry I moved further back, away from the still life, and so there is no problem with distortion. I have a friend in New York who haven't seen for decades. I was at the RA school with him and he is one of the best painters I have ever met. He told me that should not have painted these Confederate soldiers, that painting the Confederate flag is like painting a swastika. I understand his argument but I can't feel bad, to me they are just the grey cavalry.
(below) Confederate Cavalry. Playmobil VII. oil on canvas. 30" x 14". cat 547.
