Cagnes-sur-Mer 1927

In William H. Johnson's painting, Cagnes-sur-Mer, you can see how he has really gone for it with these strokes of brown, blue, and ochre. I can imagine him, brush in hand, building up the painting bit by bit. Each dab and stroke is like a little decision, a little experiment. It feels like Johnson's trying to capture a sense of place, but not in a postcard kind of way. It's more about the feeling of being there, the light, the colors, the air. Look how the paint is kind of thick and juicy in some spots, thin and washy in others, each part doing its thing. There's this one dark blue swoosh at the top that to me is the movement in the sky. It could be Rothko, it could be Diebenkorn, it could be a bunch of people, right? But it’s its own thing at the same time. And that’s the conversation that painting is having all the time.