Standing youth 1915

Koloman Moser made this painting, *Standing Youth*, with oils, probably sometime around the turn of the century. Look at how the figure emerges from these strokes of ochre and yellow light, with those almost too-solid indigo forms on either side. I wonder what Moser was thinking about when he made this. Was he trying to capture an ideal of masculine beauty, like some kinda gym-bro-god? Or was he just kinda messing around, trying to catch the light on skin? I'm always curious about what happens in that moment when the artist is alone in the studio, pushing paint around, seeing what happens. There's something so physical about it, that back and forth between the hand and the eye, the paint and the surface. And the colors – that golden light against the almost bruised blues. It's like he’s playing with contrasts, setting up a little drama right there on the canvas. Artists like Moser were in conversation with all the other painters who came before him. We all are, riffing on each other's ideas, trying to make something new out of something old.