Circus Girl 1945

Yasuo Kuniyoshi has rendered his Circus Girl in oil paint, with a palette that feels kind of earthy. The way the paint's been dragged and feathered, it’s as if the artist has been coaxing the image into being, one soft layer at a time. You can see this in the delicate modelling of the skin. I wonder if Kuniyoshi ever felt like he was wrestling with the painting, trying to capture the essence of his subject? The surface is built up in these subtle, gentle strokes. Look at the way the lines are blurred, the colors bleed into each other – there is this sense of continual adjustment and refining. It makes me think of Bonnard, and how he kept adjusting his paintings right up until the moment they left his studio! And that hand, raised in a gesture, it makes me want to know what she’s thinking or feeling. Is she about to perform? Artists, we’re always looking, always responding to each other’s ideas, riffing and building on what’s come before. Painting is a conversation, and there's no final word.