Sculpture 1935 - 1942

This sculpture, made with who knows what, by who knows who, shows someone kneeling on a cushion. There is a real directness to the way the artist tackles the making of this piece: no fuss, straight to the point, just putting the thing down. You can almost see the hand of the artist moving across the form, the same way you can see it in, say, Guston’s late paintings. The colours are a little faded but still rich, blues and golds, with highlights of terracotta in the beads, cushion and parts of the garment. Look at the surface of the cushion: the artist has captured the texture of the material using only layers of translucent watercolour, it's like the surface shimmers as though lit from within. It's all about the joy of applying the material, a love of process, a delight in the activity of mark-making. This anonymous work reminds me of the paintings of Florine Stettheimer, her ability to capture the world around her with such freshness and directness. Art, like life, is a conversation, a back-and-forth, so it’s nice to see these echoes across time.