Notes

Most of Fred Page’s paintings feature spaces defined by architecture, and when figures appear in these settings, they seem to have little logical function but to enhance the intended sense of oddness and disquiet. The Summons depicts a young boy in a room, an oversized white Knight associated with the game of chess, a toy train engine on a table, and beyond the window a real train and a boy with bugle summoning someone, but who we do not know. Typically, Page’s palette is restricted to black and white, but here he makes generous use of a muted shade of pink, a curious choice for the subject matter, but then that is what Page does: he keeps us guessing.