Dress c. 1936

Jessie M. Benge made this dress design with pencil and watercolor, sometime during her long life. It’s gossamer, right? I feel like I'm looking at something almost not there – like a dream, or the memory of something loved, something worn to a ball, or perhaps even never worn at all. It’s so delicate. Imagine the light touch Benge must have had with her brush, coaxing these pale pinks and floral details into being. And the long flowing lines, they suggest movement, a kind of ethereal dance. You know, there’s a whole history of artists sketching fashion. This piece reminds me of Utamaro, the Japanese printmaker, known for his images of beautiful women and their robes. Like him, Benge captures a sense of fleeting beauty, of a world that is both present and just out of reach. These artists are in conversation across time, thinking about what it means to capture a fleeting moment with line, tone and color.