Cavaquinho c. 1914 - 1915

Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso made this painting of a Cavaquinho player with oil paint and probably a brush, though maybe a palette knife for the thick globs, it’s hard to be sure. The way Souza-Cardoso uses these colours is fascinating; it’s like he’s building this guy, maybe a portrait, maybe not, block by block. Look at the hand holding the instrument, like an orange cubist brick, that connects to the neck like a rhythmic, snake-like form. The guitar itself mirrors the man, they both have the same kind of abstracted face. There’s a blue smudge of paint to the right of his head. Is that a bird escaping? Or just… air? It doesn't matter. The paint is so present here; we're watching it become a figure. It reminds me a little of Marsden Hartley, that American painter who made portraits of German officers. In both, there’s this tension between representation and abstraction, a feeling that the painting is its own subject. It’s a reminder that art is never finished, it just stops in interesting places.