Artwork
Ghetto
Ghetto is a watercolor work on paper by the Contemporary Realist artist Carole Robb. It dates from 2004 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
Carole Robb’s Ghetto is a watercolour from 2004 showing a Venetian canal scene. It’s part of fourteen works she made while traveling through Rome, Tivoli, and the Veneto in '03/'04.
The painting mixes blue and green shades to show thick, still water. It adds layers of paint to suggest the water’s heavy, stagnant feel.
Check out more watercolours at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Overview
Ghetto is a 2004 watercolour by Carole Robb, depicting a nighttime scene of a Venice canal in the historic Jewish Ghetto quarter. Characterized by dark, muted tones, the work captures the area's dense, serene atmosphere.
Subject & Meaning
The only hints of human presence are distant, twinkling window lights, underscoring the quarter's secluded, nocturnal ambiance.
The painting focuses on the Ghetto's canal, emphasizing its stagnant water through layered, blue-green hues. The only hints of human presence are distant, twinkling window lights, underscoring the quarter's secluded, nocturnal ambiance. Historically, the Ghetto was established in 1516 as a segregated area for Venice's Jewish population, a context subtly reflected in the work's somber, isolated portrayal.
Technique & Style
Robb employs a figurative style, influenced by old master paintings, contrasting with the abstract trends of her time. The watercolour's textured, layered paint suggests the water's thickness, while the predominance of dark, watery tones and a small, illuminated sky segment evoke a nighttime setting.
History & Provenance
Created during Robb's 2003-2004 journey through Italy, Ghetto is one of fourteen watercolours from this trip, now part of the V&A's collection. It modernly complements the museum's 18th and 19th-century Grand Tour watercolours of Italy.
Context
Robb's work, along with artists like Stephen Farthing and Christopher Le Brun, represents a 1970s British movement away from abstraction towards figurative art rooted in traditional techniques. Ghetto specifically contextualizes contemporary views of historic Italian locales.
Legacy
As a contemporary watercolour, Ghetto contributes to the V&A's diverse collection, bridging historical and modern depictions of Italy. It reflects Robb's contribution to the resurgence of figurative painting among British artists of her generation.
Artist & collection
Artist
Carole Robb painted delicate watercolours of Italian cityscapes and canals in the early 2000s.
