Five Heads c. 1918

Elihu Vedder made these five heads, probably as a study, using watercolour on paper. There's an exploratory feel to it, like doodling in a sketchbook. The repetition suggests he’s working through something. I’m drawn to the watercolour washes, particularly in the bottom right head, where the blue bleeds softly around the edges. You can almost feel the water moving the pigment around. The lines are bold, confident, but the colours are muted, giving them an antique feel. Look at the way the paint sits on the surface, not quite opaque, letting the paper breathe through. It’s like seeing a ghost of an image, not fully formed. Vedder's heads remind me a bit of Redon’s dreamlike imagery. Both artists share a love of the uncanny and the mysterious. Ultimately, this piece feels like a reminder that art is a process, an ongoing conversation between the artist, the materials, and the world. And that sometimes, the most interesting things happen in the spaces between intention and accident.