Simkhovitch’s The Picnic is a day of leisure for a group that seems mirthless. They sit on bare earth, and each is unsmiling and subdued. There is no picnic joy as a small picnic cloth is spread around which they all gather. A man in a bathing suit reclines, his back to the viewer. Behind him, a man clothed in pants and a sleeveless undershirt looks Luxe at two women. One woman is leaning over. another woman is emptying a picnic basket.
In the mid-ground, a man of color and a child walk along a river or inlet. The man carries a towel on his arm. Behind is the river and commercial boats carrying coal along the further shore. Beyond the ships is an industrial factory. Above is a blue sky.
Featured Image: Simka Simkovitch. The Picnic (1930s), oil on canvas.