Dress c. 1940

Melita Hofmann made this drawing of a dress with watercolor and graphite, on paper, and it’s just so lovely. I’m really drawn to the way she handled the color. It's like she wasn't trying to make it pop, but instead, she was trying to make it breathe. It feels so casual, like a Sunday afternoon. And then there's the graphite, which is really doing the heavy lifting here. It’s like she’s using it to sketch out a dream. The way the lines wobble and blur gives it this ghostly feel, as if you could almost reach out and touch it, but it would disappear in your fingers. In a way, Hofmann’s dress reminds me of Guston’s paintings. It’s not about perfection, it’s about feeling. It’s about the messiness of life and the beauty that can be found in it. It’s about letting go and trusting the process.