Dress c. 1936

Rosalia Lane made this dress design, probably with pencil and watercolor, at some point in her long life. I can imagine her sitting at a table, maybe by a window with good light, sketching and painting with a fine brush. It's all about pattern, isn't it? How the eye moves over the surface, trying to make sense of the intersecting lines and blocks of green. I feel like she's playing with perspective, flattening the image even as she suggests the shape of a body. The green is so fresh, like new leaves in spring. And next to it another sketch, more ghostly, like an idea fading away. Lane shares something intimate with us here: not just a dress, but a vision of form, color, and maybe a bit of longing. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation, borrowing, and riffing off of one another. Each brushstroke is part of a larger dialogue across time and space.