Studie af sort, kvindelig model (Miarka) 1912 - 1916

Othon Friesz made this study of Miarka with bold strokes of charcoal, or maybe conté, and with a clear affection for his subject. You can see him working out the problems of the pose, re-stating a line again and again, circling her weight. I wonder what it was like in the studio, the model holding that pose, the artist’s intense looking. The paper feels raw and unworked, ready to take on the image. The marks are applied quickly, economically – Friesz is not trying to blend or finesse. It makes me think of Manet, who had a similar urgency, and a confidence in the suggestive power of the sketch. It looks as if he’s trying to convey a feeling, a presence – and the image doesn’t feel resolved, or static, but open to possibility, which is what makes it interesting to me. It's this openness, this conversation, this ongoing search that links artists across time.