HARRY STEEN Et in Arcadia ego
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HARRY STEEN Et in Arcadia ego
Jonathan Cooper 20 Park Walk London SW10 0AQ t: +44 (0)20 7351 0410 mail@jonathancooper.co.uk jonathancooper.co.uk
Introduction
The idea of Arcadia has enjoyed a long and fruitful sway over the Western imagination. Even in antiquity it existed both as a geographical location in southern Greece and also in mythology as the kingdom of Pan, an idyllic realm populated by nymphs and shepherds far from the urban corruption of Thebes, or later, imperial Rome. This vision of a bucolic paradise endured through the Renaissance and Baroque. Perhaps filtered and experienced, however, through the prism of the Garden of Eden, before long an element of unease had crept into its groves and valleys, and in the famously enigmatic seventeenth-century Poussin painting, Et in Arcadia ego, a group of shepherds in classical garb, at the height of their youth and beauty, encounter a tomb in the midst of verdant countryside, a stark reminder that all good things cannot last. Harry Steen is deeply fascinated by the ancient world. His paintings are populated by Hellenic gods and heroes, the legends of Ancient Greece unfolding against the backdrop of the present day. Viewing them, we detect a longing for a lost paradise, and a desire to capture and celebrate moments of beauty in a changing world. Many of his light-filled interiors were inspired by recent visits to Rainthorpe Hall, an English Tudor manor, and hint at 2
echoes of its inhabitants past, present, and imagined. Others are deeply personal, exploring family lore and memories of his childhood home in Calgary, Alberta, making these works a Proustian remembrance of things past. ‘Et in Arcadia ego’ has been translated and interpreted as ‘Even in Arcadia, there am I’, but also as ‘I, too, have known Paradise’. In art, the presence of a skull next to Titian’s rural lovers, or amidst an exquisite Dutch still life can be interpreted morally as a warning against the transient pleasures of the flesh, or conversely as a reminder that beauty and life will pass, and should be savoured while we can. Similarly, as the golden age of youth fades we can take bittersweet satisfaction in the remembrance of a life enjoyed. Perhaps it is the very tension between these competing world views that has allowed the concept of Arcadia to endure, inspiring artists and poets from Virgil and Guercino to Baudelaire and Evelyn Waugh. In Harry Steen’s mysterious and atmospheric paintings, the presence of darkness serves to throw the light into greater relief, while the transience of beauty makes its preservation and recording all the more crucial.
Garden, Bryn Mawr Oil on board 24 × 20 ins 61 × 50.8 cm
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Rainthorpe – Hall Oil on board 24 × 36 ins 61 × 91.4 cm
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Jade Grapes Oil on board 9 × 12 ins 22.9 × 30.5 cm
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Copper Bowl Oil on board 9 × 12 ins 22.9 × 30.5 cm
Hestia Oil on board 24 × 28 ins 61 × 71.1 cm
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Rainthorpe – Hall Fireplace Oil on board 12 × 16 ins 30.5 × 40.6 cm
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Rainthorpe – Vestibule Oil on board 16 × 12 ins 40.6 × 30.5 cm
Rainthorpe – Bathroom Oil on board 16 × 12 ins 40.6 × 30.5 cm
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Through Doorway Oil on canvas 40 × 44 ins 101.6 × 111.8 cm
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Lamp Through Arch Oil on board 12 × 9 ins 30.5 × 22.9 cm
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Rainthorpe – Chess Set Oil on board 16 × 12 ins 40.6 × 30.5 cm
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Rainthorpe – Out Window to Terrace Oil on board 16 × 12 ins 40.6 × 30.5 cm
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Little Chinese Bowl Oil on board 8 × 10.5 ins 20.3 × 26.7 cm
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Pewter Tankard Oil on board 8 × 10.5 ins 20.3 × 26.7 cm
Sérilly Cabinet Oil on board 12 × 10 ins 30.5 × 25.4 cm
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The artist would like to thank the Wilsons for their hospitality and letting him paint Rainthorpe.
Jonathan Cooper 20 Park Walk  London  SW10 0AQ t: +44 (0)20 7351 0410 mail@jonathancooper.co.uk jonathancooper.co.uk
Jonathan Cooper 30