A Model on the Artist's Studio 1954

Tetyana Yablonska’s ‘A Model in the Artist's Studio’ is a painting of her studio, probably done with oils. I’m really taken by the color here; it’s almost a monochromatic painting, but the blue of the model’s skirt really pops against the muted greys and browns. It’s like Yablonska’s painting a painting within a painting, and it really pulls you into the scene. I mean, look at how she layers the paint, really thin in some areas, thicker in others, you can almost see the ghost of what came before. There's a real sense of the studio as a working space, with canvases stacked up all over the floor. I think any painter will recognize this feeling of controlled chaos. It’s a conversation, right? And, that unfinished canvas in the background, is like a painter's brain; always working, always changing. It reminds me of Fairfield Porter actually, that same interest in domestic space and the everyday.