Gazette du Bon Ton, 1921 - No. 7, Pl. 51: The country girl 1921

Charles Martin made this print, The Country Girl, for the Gazette du Bon Ton in 1921, using a decidedly pared-down approach. He doesn't fuss over details; he’s more interested in shapes. The artist is playing with a simplified, almost cubist style. The colours are muted – greys, greens, and blues – lending a tranquil feel. The ink looks thin, washy almost, allowing the paper's texture to show through. Check out how the dress is rendered: flat planes that suggest volume without actually describing it. Look again, the whole scene is constructed with these angular shapes. It reminds me a bit of some of Hannah Höch’s collages, where she chopped up images and reassembled them in surprising ways. Martin is doing something similar here, but with ink and paper. Ultimately art is about a way of seeing more than a fixed idea. It's this dance between representation and abstraction that keeps things interesting!