Doc Snider's House, was painted in 1931. The subject matter is simple, but the painting is elegant and delicately composed. Forms, line and space are balanced with great control. The colours are quiet and details are kept to a minimum. The buildings give the composition a three dimensional structure, while the positioning of the trees emphasizes the feeling of space. The trunks bend and curve towards and away from each other, creating delicate tensions and rhythms.
The meaning of the painting resides in its form, in cubic shapes, line, colour, and the relationships of one element to another. Although it is a realistic painting of a house, and garden in winter, it is not far from being an abstract composition. Through nature FitzGerald has worked towards finding the inner substance of forms.
He once wrote:
It is necessary for me to get inside the object and push it out, rather than merely building it up from the outer aspect. This requires endless search and contemplation; continuous effort and experiment, and appreciation for the endless flow of the living force which seem to pervade and flow through all natural forms, even those seem on the surface to be so ephemeral.(do you sense the presence of John Ruskin looking over FitzGerald's shoulder?)
pp 148-149
Enjoying Canadian Painting. 1976.
Patricia Godsell,
General Publishing Co. ltd, Don Mills, On.
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