Lady in a White Dress 1906

Samuel Peploe conjured this "Lady in a White Dress" with loose brushstrokes and a cool, restrained palette. Imagine him, squinting, stepping back, layering whites and grays. I wonder what Peploe was thinking when he put down that stroke of gray-blue along the side of her face? It’s like he’s teasing the form out of the fog, or maybe he's just trying to catch the light as it shifts. The paint's not too thick, but you can feel the drag of the brush. It reminds me a bit of Whistler, but with a chunkier, more grounded feel. There’s a dialogue happening across time, an ongoing conversation about how to see and capture a figure in paint. These painters are all inspiring each other to create fresh marks and capture something essential about how we experience the world. Painting at its best is embodied, intuitive, and always a little uncertain.