P.F.1938 1938

Mikuláš Galanda made P.F.1938, probably using ink or gouache, and the piece feels so immediate, like he was really working through something. You can see the hand of the artist right there on the surface, with those direct, unblended marks. I'm drawn to the colors he's using, this really tight palette of red, yellow and black, contained by a confident line that is both strong and so, so tender. See how the blocks of color don't quite fill their outlines, and how the lines that render the figures never meet? It’s like the forms are emerging, still becoming themselves. The black shape behind the mother’s head doesn't seem to represent anything, but it feels like a shadow, a premonition, or maybe just a formal device to contain the composition. For me, this piece speaks to the tradition of modernism that was emerging at this time, with artists like Picasso, Braque and Matisse embracing abstraction and primitivism, reducing the world to simplified forms. Galanda died the same year he made this artwork. Maybe, it was a premonition.