Ice Skate c. 1938

Eugene Bartz made this watercolor of an ice skate, at an unknown date. Look at the texture and the detail in the rust and the wood grain, it almost feels like he made it on site, out on the ice. It’s interesting to think about what it might have been like to create this piece – the quiet focus, the attention to small details, and the artist lost in the making, maybe almost like the skater is lost in the glide. There is such love in this painting, and I don't mean romance—I mean a really intimate engagement with the material. He makes the metal straps, with their buckles, almost like characters. The slight imperfections only enhance the overall feeling and you can sense a conversation between the materials as the artist paints. In the end, it's this kind of exchange that is the secret language of painting, isn't it?