January

Dennis Booth was born in County Durham and lived most of his life in the North of England. He studied at Leeds and went on to run the School of Fine Art at Hull College for over a decade in the 1950s and 60s. A large part of Booth's work was concerned with the experimental use of materials for mural decoration, and he carried out a considerable number of commissions for local banks, building societies and insurance companies. He also had a particular interest in landscape painting, often abstracting his work to represent 'equivalents in colour and form for the moods and mysteries of nature.' January is a semi-abstract scene. The central subject matter is a hedge within a winter landscape, but the mist and snow blot out all of the details and colours of the scene. The composition is based on geometrical divisions within the square canvas. The strong line of the horizon is mirrored by the freer strokes that represent the hedges and fields covered with snow.