Doll c. 1936

Jacob Gielens made this watercolor painting of a doll, standing at a mere 8 inches high. I'm thinking, the doll itself must be an amazing object, so detailed, and Gielen has really captured the costume with such precision. You can tell he's interested in the details, maybe even more than the doll itself. The feathers on the doll’s headdress look light and fluffy, even if it might be more stiff and rigid in reality. Those feathers remind me of Joan Mitchell's marks, always reaching, always striving. I can imagine Gielens carefully layering the watercolor, building up the forms slowly, trying to get it just right. It’s such a tender portrait, isn't it? When you see it, you can feel Gielen trying to breathe life into this object, finding something special in this doll and in the act of depiction itself. It goes to show that every artist is in conversation with those who came before, all learning, borrowing, and expanding on each other's ideas. And maybe that's what art is all about, keeping the conversation going.