Turtle c. 1939

Van Silvay made this watercolor, Turtle, on paper. I love the way that Silvay uses the watercolor almost like ink, with very fine strokes. The color is applied in translucent layers, like a glaze. The material aspects of the work, the texture, the color, and the surface, give the piece a really interesting quality. The shell is a vibrant teal, but then if you look closer, you can see it's not just one flat color. There are darker greens, and even some reddish-brown spots in there. Look at the head of the turtle in the bottom left, where the artist has created dark swirls in the paint. It’s like a tiny abstract painting within the larger piece. The controlled looseness reminds me a bit of Arthur Dove's watercolors, especially in the way he captures light and form with such minimal means. It's a reminder that art is really an ongoing conversation between artists.