Mountain Village 1937

Sasza Blonder made this painting of a mountain village with what looks like oil on canvas, but I can’t tell you exactly when. Look closely at how the mountain rises behind the village, and how Blonder has constructed the scene with distinct brushstrokes. The marks are loaded with paint, each one deliberate, like individual tiles in a mosaic. The colours, though muted, are surprisingly varied, creating a patchwork effect that gives the landscape a rich, almost tactile quality. Consider the lower right-hand corner of the painting, where the brushstrokes form rounded shapes, perhaps rocks or foliage. These marks are applied with such confidence and directness that they seem to pulse with their own energy. I am reminded of Chaim Soutine, and his landscapes which have a similar expressive intensity and raw, emotive power. This is art that resists easy answers, inviting us instead to engage with the world in all its messy, beautiful complexity.