Czóbel Béla Akt 1930 1930

Bela Czobel created this nude in 1930, and I can imagine him wrestling with that ochre colour. Did he want it more pink or more brown? I know this feeling. What’s remarkable here is the texture. It’s not about trompe l'oeil, where you think you could reach out and touch the thing, but the materiality of paint, the way it's been slapped and troweled onto the canvas. See how that brushstroke is loaded with feeling? It reminds me of Soutine, who used to destroy his canvases because he couldn't quite get the feeling right. I wonder if Czobel ever felt that frustration, that desperation to capture something elusive. Painters are always talking to each other, across time, inspiring each other, borrowing, stealing, and transforming. And at the end of the day, we are just trying to make sense of the world, one brushstroke at a time. Isn't that amazing?