Fine Art Tuesday

 

Date by the Fjord Hans Dahl. What is not to like about the girl's jaunty and curvacious hand-on-hip. I bet she gets a heck of a discount on the hay.

 

Hans Dahl born 1847 in Norway died 1937. Lived long enough to see his works go from wildly popular to unfashionable, undoubtedly because even uneducated people enjoyed them.

By the Water's Edge. If the secret to engaging art is to tell a story, Dahl succeeded. Details of boat's construction revealed.

Boats, boats and more boats

Freshwater fishing Jahn Ekenaes. Notice the position of the rower forward of where modern boats would place her. Also notice the beamy stern which serves as a work platform. The basket is a fish-trap

 

Another painting by Jahn Ekenaes. Notice the stone counterweight on the bow, the forward position of the rower, the woman holding the reel as the man nets the pike(?) Also worth noticing is the detail of the oarlocks, chisel-ended sticks hammered into splits in the logs making up the sides of the impromptu raft.

Changing of Meadow Rosa Bonheur. Once again we see a broadly beamed boat (a floating truck) with the oar-locks well forward of where our mental images suggests they should be. The sheep are being moved from one island to another.

Unsolicited editorializing: If you asked most Americans to describe a "working boat" they would be likely to describe a 16' long jon boat with a 30 horsepower, outboard motor. There is nothing wrong with that kind of boat but as it is currently configured, it lacks many of the attributes of the traditional work-boat. 

It would be interesting to install dual electric motors about a third the way aft of the bow and power them with a small, gas powered generator. That would leave the stern free as a working space and provide a great deal of maneuverability. Of course, it would not be able to go 30 mph.