Autumn Forest 1967

Mixed media 52 x 66 cm (20 ½ x 26 in)

Completed in 1967, Autumn Forest is a seminal drawing which concentrates almost entirely on the visual language Tale subsequently developed to forge his unique contribution to contemporary landscape painting. The drawing is also significant because it prefigures Tale’s later abstract work. Autumn Forest rewards the viewer’s contemplation and it may be helpful to consider the reasons for this.

With its intricate, almost abstract tapestry of golden leaves, twigs, branches, undergrowth and sky the ‘dancing’ quality of the drawing is in some aspects, particularly the rhythms, recalls Pollock. Here Tale’s experience of nature and his understanding of nature’s processes take him far beyond surface reality, to lead him to an emblematic treatment of the woodland forms in a manner which hovers on the brink of abstraction. He adapts the language of abstract painting in a way which echoes nature’s own creativity.

However in this drawing, by maintaining allusions to the world of the senses and appearances, Tale creates metaphors with far wider references and is able to achieve a deeper spirituality which assumes the flight of poetry. His new, individual and symbolic, or emblematic, language enables him to articulate beyond the conscious use of written or spoken word. His visual language derives its strength from its ability to retrieve directly from the depths of the unconscious mind, the subconscious or the instinctual – endowing the drawing with a richly layered multiplicity of meaning. It is essential to realise that Tale achieves this because every stroke or shade he uses, in itself, is able to communicate his feelings and ideas.

In the intensity and conviction with which this drawing has been executed it could perhaps be described as transcendental. In Autumn Forest Tale achieves this with mesmeric grace, delicacy and an almost super-charged energy.

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