De kameel 1894 - 1959

Gordinne made this print of a camel, I guess, at some point, using a limited palette of browns, tans, and blues. It’s kind of flat and graphic, the kind of thing you might find in an old children’s book. The image is built up from simple lines and blocks of color, giving it a blocky, almost cartoonish feel. I love the way the different browns blend together to create the camel’s shaggy fur. There's this real sense of the animal’s bulk and weight, but also a kind of gentleness in its expression. The small figure of the man standing next to the camel is charming. It reminds me a little of Matisse's paper cutouts, how he could create a whole world with just a few simple shapes and colors. Art is often about taking something complex and distilling it down to its essence, capturing the spirit of a thing rather than its exact likeness.