Barn and Yucca
, 1930s
5 x 7 in (h x w)
Etching on aquatint with drypoint on laid paper; collection of Ora Hatton Shay
Hatton’s Barn and Yucca shows a scene on the windswept plains of west-central Kansas in her native Russell County. The elements of visual interest (trees, plants, fence, building) appear below the horizon. Hatton’s worm’s-eye view convincingly implies the vast, enormous volume of space that envelops the Kansas prairie while presenting the viewer with an intimate glimpse of the landscape’s built and natural environments. The cottonwood trees in the left middleground indicate the presence of one of the area’s many meandering creeks, while the delicate contours of the horizon offer a subtle suggestion of the prairie’s undulant topography.