Untitled (Mozart Profile to Viewer's Right - on Dark Green Background) 1945

Here we have Joseph Solman’s ‘Untitled (Mozart Profile to Viewer's Right - on Dark Green Background)’, made with… well, we aren’t sure, but he’s layering color, so it could be ink, oil, tempera, or gouache, or some combination of these! I love the way Solman fearlessly allows process to be visible, it's like he's saying, “Here it is, folks, plain and simple!” The color palette is earthy and muted, almost like a faded memory, but then he comes in with this sharp contour drawing defining the profile. Isn't that interesting? The combination of the softness of the face, compared to the starkness of the lines, almost gives the impression that Mozart is about to disappear into the green. That dark line also reminds me of the way Milton Avery used to work. You know, reducing everything to its simplest form and letting the color do the talking. It’s a beautiful reminder that art is an ongoing conversation, an exchange of ideas across time.