PROVENANCE
Paul & Kerry Barber Collection Fine & Applied Arts, Dunbar Sloane 21/04/2010

Charles Tole and his brother John believed that style and technique should not be the arbitrary goals of the artist, but elements that flow from "intuition towards the expression and communication of the artist's message". This statement helps us to understand the artist's approach to cubism, and to align the stylistic qualities of Reservoir, Cheviot Country with the nature of his creative mission. By the time he painted this work, Tole had developed a strong cubist language of his own. This painting shuns the need for depth of perspective; there is only stacked flatness - buildings borrowing space from the land, and heaving great strips of land layered on top of each other.

Tole has not reduced the land to its purely geometric qualities; instead, he conveys the truth of it. The viewer is drawn closely into this quiet scene of rural industry.

The painting's technical skill and polished quality speaks for itself. Tole's treatment of colour is mature and succinct; gentle tonal graduations of green reflect the rolling of the hills. Meanwhile, a single plume of smoke breaks up the grid-like formation of the scene and confirms the presence of human life.