Après Midi De Jeune Fille 1936

Ethel Léontine Gabain captured this young woman in paint, sometime in the first half of the twentieth century. The colors are muted but applied with confidence. You can feel Gabain enjoying the process, the way the colors mix on the canvas, a constant dance of adjustments and discoveries. The texture is pretty great, isn't it? Notice how the paint is built up in layers, especially in the patterned fabric of the chair and the folds of the woman’s skirt. Up close, you can almost see the individual strokes, each one a little decision, a little push and pull. Look at how the light catches the edges of those strokes, giving everything a soft, hazy glow. There’s something so intimate about the way Gabain captures the woman’s gaze, lost in thought. Gabain, like Gwen John, had the gift of capturing the quiet moments, the introspective moods that often go unnoticed. It's a reminder that art, at its best, can embrace ambiguity and invite us to see the world in new ways.