Daydreams (possibly Maternity), by Walter Langley (1852-1922). Oil on panel. H 15.5 x W 16.5 cm. Penlee House Gallery & Museum; accession no. PEZPH: 2000.61. Bequeathed by Mrs Langley, the artist's great-granddaughter, in 2000. Kindly made available via Art UK on the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives licence (CC BY-ND).
Langley's "delicate, sensitive portrayal of the people of Newlyn" (Cross 15) includes the recognition of their hopes and dreams as well as their anxieties, and several of his works show figures in a sort of fugue state, lost in reverie or prospect of a better future. The mother here may be thinking of what life has in store for her little one, and hoping that it will be kind to the child. In such works, Langley conveyed the inner lives of his subjects, who were far more to him than the stereotypical working-class poor. This was social realism with an added dimension. — Jacqueline Banerjee
Bibliography
Cross, Tom. The Shining Sands: Artists in Newlyn and St Ives, 1880-1930. New ed. Tiverton, Devon: Westcountry Books, The Lutterworth Press, 2008.
Created 12 March 2021