What Lies Beneath (2000x1800)

Sea pictures are extremely tricky. We tend to take water for granted, thinking of how transparent it is, while in reality water (especially at sea) is not a liquid form of glass most of the time. Wind and currents, flotsam and jetsam, and items man has made and discarded all cover the sea and sometimes cover it like a blanket. Light itself can be an enemy - the sun may be too bright and prevent one from seeing clearly because of the sheen on the surface. Or, as on that tragic night 102 years ago, dirt and mud on an iceberg might have prevented the brittle moonlight beams from reflecting adequately enough to warn Frederick Fleet in the crow's nest of a potential danger until it was close enough to be visable - unfortunately too close.

I am impressed by this picture of the catastrophe of Titanic's sister Brittanic on that day in November 1916. The water here seems (at first glance) too transparent but he does get across the darkness of the deep - he skillfully uses shadows that are arising from the sea bottom to mirror the liner's underbelly (so soon to be fatally opened up) as well as the mine that will destroy her. What I like bout th shadows is the suggestive interplay like line segments that are coming closer and closer and will soon horribly intersect. On top of that the shadow the mine (due to the shape of the multi-sided mine itself) like a ship sinking - a portent of what will occur within an hour or so of this collision.

I have given five stars to Eugenius' picture in "Vision", "Technique", and "Impact", but you might note I only gave four stars for "Originality". This is not due to a failure affecting my liking the picture, but it strikes me that the artist was possibly influenced by the cover illustration of Walter Lord's "A Night To Remember" showing the Titanic sailin serenely towards the iceberg. A degree of imitation may be evident here, but it is a welcome degree of imitation, for this picture can proudly join the earlier one as it's companion in showing an anticipated tragedy at sea.