JOHN COLLIER | ALL HALLOWE'EN

Walter Herries Pollock, "The Hon. John Collier," The Art Annual, London, 1914, p. 6, illustrated 

John Collier was a leading English painter who worked mostly in the Pre-Raphaelite style. All Hallowe’en is a psychologically charged and mysterious composition, featuring a young woman clad in a nightgown who looks at her reflection in the haunting glow of a candle. Her expression is difficult to read, and the artist does not reveal what it is that has caught her eye behind her and what might be partially reflected in the glass. This work belongs to a series of “problem paintings” by the artist, which feature ambiguous and inconclusive dilemmas, many of which took place in domestic settings.