Girl in a Landscape 1965

Fairfield Porter made this painting, Girl in a Landscape, with oil on canvas using the kind of brushstrokes that seem casual, but are actually very deliberate. There's a sense of light and air in the way he handles the color. The paint has a certain thickness, especially in the way he builds up the rocks and foliage around the figure. Look at how the brushstrokes almost become little sculptures of color, particularly on the rocks in the foreground. There's a tension between representation and abstraction. It's like Porter is saying, "Yes, this is a landscape, but it's also about paint itself." That yellow t-shirt almost glows. Porter reminds me a bit of someone like Pierre Bonnard, both in the way he captures domestic life and uses color to evoke a mood. With Porter, there's always a sense of quiet observation, a kind of reverence for the everyday. And that, to me, is where the real magic lies.