Peter the Great 1973

Jacob Kainen made this watercolor drawing called 'Peter the Great' sometime during his long career. It looks like it came into being through playful experiment, with the artist letting intuition lead the way. I imagine Kainen in his studio, brush in hand, coaxing these shapes into existence. That big red form at the top feels like a bold declaration, like he’s saying something important, but what? And what's the relationship to those more horizontal purple marks at the bottom, like the wake of a boat? Then there are the details – the splatters of yellow, the scribbled gray background, those tiny dabs of blue. The paint is thin, translucent, allowing the white of the paper to breathe through. It’s not about perfection or precision; it’s about feeling and gesture. It kind of reminds me of Guston's later work, where cartoonish forms carry profound emotional weight. Artists are always talking to each other, across time, through their paintings. It’s a conversation, not a lecture, full of uncertainty and open to endless interpretation.