Doll Buggy c. 1937

Eugene Croe made this 'Doll Buggy' with paint on paper, and the way he’s approached it feels so matter-of-fact, so process-oriented. The color palette is subdued, almost like he’s recalling something from memory rather than setting it down in front of him. Look at the surface – it's like a gentle wash, so thin that it almost disappears into the paper. And yet, it's precise! You can see how carefully he's rendered the details of the buggy, the spokes of the wheels, the ornate designs on the fabric. There's a tension between the delicacy of the lines and the flatness of the color that I find really compelling. Now, focus on the wheels. Aren’t they fascinating? Each spoke is rendered with such care, and yet the whole feels a bit…off. As if Croe is more interested in the act of representation than in creating a perfect illusion. Which reminds me a little of the work of Florine Stettheimer, who approached portraiture with the same mix of reverence and irreverence. Art's always about this ongoing conversation, isn't it? This dance between what we see and how we choose to see it.