Woman's head covering c. 1925

Here is the story: James Bishop’s “Woman’s Head Covering” is big, red, and full of dots. It is a mystery, like how it came into being. I imagine Bishop thinking a lot about the surface. It’s like he’s building a world from the ground up, one tiny dot at a time. The red paint looks thin, almost like watercolor, but those dots create texture. Are they organized or scattered? Is the paint sinking into the canvas? It feels both ancient and totally modern. I wonder, was Bishop trying to capture a feeling, maybe something personal? A feeling of connection to a place or person? Bishop's really thinking through his ideas on the canvas, but he’s also in conversation with all of art history. He asks: what is a painting and what can a painting be? He gives us something to look at, something to think about, something to feel. And that’s the conversation that keeps going, between artists, between artworks, and between you and me.