Puppet: Pirate c. 1936

Beverly Chichester made this gouache and watercolor painting of a pirate puppet, we don't know exactly when. The palette is fairly restrained: mostly red with touches of green, black, white, and tan. I can imagine Chichester carefully building up layers of color, patiently defining the contours of the puppet's form with precise brushstrokes. This piece feels almost sculptural, like she's trying to capture the three-dimensionality of the puppet on a flat surface. There is a sort of intense presence. I keep thinking about the little white highlights on the figure, like the blob on the cap, or on the cheek. Those gestures are so great! What was she thinking when she added those little dots of light? Was she trying to animate the figure, to give it a sense of depth and volume? This feels like a conversation with folk art, vernacular art, or maybe even illustration. Artists are always in conversation, riffing off of each other's ideas, building on the past while forging new paths forward.