The Story of Klára Zách I 1911

Aladar Korosfoi-Kriesch made The Story of Klára Zách I with, what looks to me like, some kind of oil or tempera paint. There’s something dreamlike about the way this painting is rendered. The treatment of the surface is interesting; it's quite flat and matte, which gives the scene a slightly removed, almost theatrical quality. The colours feel muted and earthy, yet the artist still manages to create a real sense of depth and texture, especially in the fabrics and foliage, through very precise mark making. Look at the main figure in the foreground, and the way the dress almost becomes the path she treads. The whole composition feels very carefully staged, almost like a tableau. The way he has composed the figures makes me think of early Renaissance painters like Giotto or Fra Angelico, though he also calls to mind painters such as Fernand Khnopff, who created similarly dreamlike scenes from the same period. Art is a constant conversation through time.