The Blue Mandarin Coat 1922

Joseph DeCamp created this portrait, The Blue Mandarin Coat, using oil paint. I wonder about the relationship between the artist and the sitter. There's something quite playful and confident about her pose as she looks off to the side, which might be why it’s such an alluring painting. I imagine DeCamp stepping back, squinting, and then leaning in to make the brushstrokes that pull her face into being. I imagine him mixing the blue of her coat, that almost glowing indigo shade. The deep black background enhances the subtle colours of the skin and the silk, and the light gives her this glow as if she’s lit from within. This painting talks about the process of seeing and feeling in the world. It reminds me of the work of other portrait painters, like John Singer Sargent, who similarly captured the vitality of their subjects with a sense of spontaneity. Artists are always responding to one another and seeing the world with the same sensitivity.