Sketches of Figures 1925

Olga Boznanska made this work, Sketches of Figures, with oil paint, and the earthy palette feels like she’s digging into the depths of memory. I can almost see her, the studio lit dimly, brush in hand, tentatively circling her subject. There’s a quiet intensity here. The marks are searching, unsure, as though she’s feeling her way through a hazy recollection. What was it like for her to create this scene? Was she trying to capture a fleeting moment, a half-forgotten face? It seems like a painting that came into being through a process of emergence, with the artist shifting and altering the image through intuition and trial and error. The thin layers of paint almost disappear into the canvas, and the gestures are raw and immediate. The smudges of brown and ochre around the figures create an atmosphere of haunting presence. The marks communicate a feeling of nostalgia or longing. It reminds me a bit of Paula Modersohn-Becker, but with a ghostly twist. Painters are always talking to each other, you know?