Puppet with Opera Glass c. 1937

Verna Tallman painted “Puppet with Opera Glass,” with watercolors on paper, probably at home. I can imagine her dabbing the paper with the brush, letting the colors bleed into each other, especially that bright, deep red. This puppet is something else, right? I wonder what Verna was thinking as she painted him, alone in her room. Did she see him as a character in a play, a stand-in for someone she knew, or maybe even herself? The way she's painted the puppet's face, with its exaggerated features and intense gaze, gives him a real presence, a sense of watchfulness. And that little puppet off to the side, peering through its own opera glasses, is a clever touch. Are we the audience, or are we being watched? Maybe painting this image was like a rehearsal for a grand performance. And in that sense, we're all puppets in a way, aren't we?