Cast Iron Dobbie: Jockey c. 1937

Dorothy Brennan gave us this image of a jockey with watercolor or gouache. It's all about process when you are working with these mediums - the paint dries so fast that you don't have a lot of time to deliberate. You can see in the jockey's pants there's a build-up of layers, maybe where Brennan had to rework the area, to get it just so. But the shirt looks like it was done alla prima, or all at once. This gives the figure a vitality, like the image was coaxed into being. I love the deep reds and browns, these earth tones that Brennan pulls from the figure, bringing him back to earth. The jockey looks like he has been brought to life from a statue, so perhaps Brennan was looking at sculptures for reference. It's possible to see the influence of Thomas Eakins here in Brennan's subject matter and realist style, although I feel like she gives her image a touch more humanity. Brennan shows us that art is about ongoing conversations, questions without concrete answers.