A palm beach ; Tailleur, de Worth 1921

This illustration, ‘A palm beach; Tailleur, de Worth’ was made by George Barbier, sometime in the early 20th century, using watercolor and gouache. It's got a playful way of depicting color. It's interesting to me how Barbier plays with the flatness of the gouache. There's a lot of surface to get lost in here. The palette is fairly muted but I think that contributes to that flattened surface. He contrasts the flat blocks of color in the background with the more detailed pattern in the sitter’s scarf and cuffs. Take a close look at the waves in the foreground. In a way they summarize the whole picture for me; they’re graphic, almost like a paper cut-out, but they still manage to evoke the sensation of water, just barely. This feels like a more decorative take on someone like Matisse, especially his fashion illustrations. But it’s also something of its own. Art’s an ongoing conversation, right? And there’s always room for another voice.