Street of a provincial town 1917

Boris Kustodiev’s ‘Street of a Provincial Town’ is a world conjured into being with charcoal, watercolour, and maybe gouache. Just imagine Kustodiev, brush in hand, stepping into this canvas, making marks that dance between representation and suggestion. I feel like he started with the buildings and church in the background, blocking in the forms with gentle blues and greens. Then, a flurry of charcoal lines brings the bustling market to life, figures emerging from a network of strokes. Look at how the reds in the women’s dresses pop against the muted tones, giving the work depth. I bet Kustodiev was inspired by the Fauves when he was working on this. I also think of Chaim Soutine's paintings of villages or Marc Chagall's shtetls. There’s something about the raw energy in the marks that feels very contemporary. We are all of us, painters, in a never-ending conversation with one another. It's about finding the freedom to express something beyond the merely visible.