French Painting by Bruno Dufourmantelle: Triptych

The hills turn out to be people. Or the people have become hills.

Les Paysages-Humains is a painting in three panels by Bruno Dufourmantelle (French, b. 1949), in oil and wax on linen, from France, signed and dated on the back, 2002. In the middle a dark, tangled form lies along a low horizon. At the left a figure crouches with its arms over its head. At right, a hunched shape sits beneath a black bar against deep red. The surfaces are built up in thick, scratched layers of ochre, rust and black. It is 157 inches wide and 70 high.

Human landscape, as promised. No one here looks comfortable.