Art and Light in the early 1930s

I have been thinking about art and that any painting worth its salt must be one of imagination on the artist's behalf and on that of the viewer. Also, that the composition of the work, whatever form it might take, in any age, needs the utmost compositional skill on the part of the artist for a successful reward. 

As I spend many hours of composing with drawings before the actual process of painting (now in pastel), I was thinking about how my art had changed over the years, other than from 1960 working from my head rather than my eye. So I thought it might be of interest to look at a watercolour that I did in 1932 when I was seven years old. This work was in the form of a Christmas card. The subject of which as Father Christmas on his sleigh delivering presents at night.

If I gave myself the same task today, there would be striking similarities. 

There was a simple band of white for snow on which a sleigh, laden with parcels, sported the prow of a Viking ship. The sleigh of goodies was drawn through a black night with a full moon by a single reindeer. Santa, holding the reins, sits on a chair. I would have a job to improve on it as a Christmas card. But there was one main and interesting difference between then and now - the lamp on the sleigh. In the painting, this sleigh light does not carry far. It stops rather suddenly in the blackness of the night - why?

Unlike modern battery and generated electricity vehicle lights, that can shine, blink, and illuminate the path ahead, this one does not.

In a time when we made our own gas to light the downstairs of our house (electricity had yet to reach us), and used candles to light our way upstairs to bed, carbide lamps were used for the road.

In a carbide lamp the lower part was the container for dry carbide. Above it was another container for water. And in between was a device to allow drips of water to fall on to the carbide to produce acetylene  gas. This inflammable gas was emitted through a ceramic jet and lit with a match. Behind the flame was a reflector. By present day standards this form of lighting was abysmally poor. But with it we could ride a bicycle at night. And if it was good enough for bicycles then, it was also good enough for Santa's sleigh.