Bowlers (II)

Every Wednesday afternoon, all over South Africa, a ritual was taking place,  Affluent white people would dress in starched white clothes and drive to their local Lawn Bowling Club.  There they would be attended upon by  black servants in white uniforms: resplendent  in red sashes.  This tableau seemed a metaphor for South Africa before independence, a reminder of a fading English colonialism  that has not entirely disappeared.  I was astonished to find a lawn bowling green in the middle of Central Park, where the same rituals occurred and inspired to paint "Summer in Central Park".   Similar scene, different context.