Sculpture 1935 - 1942

Here is a figure painted in watercolor, probably a study for a sculpture. The artist captured the opulence of the model's garments, the fabric painted with great attention to detail. The figure is faceless, which makes you wonder if it is a portrait or the idea of a figure. Maybe the artist was working from a sculpture, maybe from memory? It makes me think about the tradition of portraits, and how they can be both about likeness and about the subject's identity. I find myself thinking about the way the artist has handled the watercolor, how they’ve built up the layers of color to create depth and richness. The way the colors blend and bleed into each other is really beautiful, and it gives the painting a sense of movement and energy. The gold ornamentation has been carefully rendered. It feels like the painting is in conversation with the sculpture it represents, as well as with all the other paintings and sculptures that have come before it. Artists learn from each other, and they build on each other’s ideas.