The artwork, titled “January,” was created by Alex Colville in 1971. It is an exemplary piece within the Contemporary Realism art movement and falls under the genre of genre painting.
The artwork presents a stark and serene winter scene. The foreground is dominated by a figure clad in a dark hooded parka and reflective aviator sunglasses, exuding a sense of mystery and introspection. The background reveals another figure standing solo, facing away, atop a snow-covered hill, donned in vintage winter attire and snowshoes. The expansive, undisturbed snowfield and distant, barely visible horizon accentuate the sense of solitude and contemplation. The meticulous and lifelike depiction of this frigid landscape is characteristic of Colville’s dedication to realism, where every detail, from the sunlight’s faint reflection on the snow to the texture of the figures’ clothing, is rendered with precision and care.
