Uniform c. 1936

Bernard Krieger painted “Uniform” sometime in the 20th century, using what looks like gouache on paper. You can tell that he’s not too concerned with blending, each stroke is laid down with a kind of confidence. I love the way that Krieger handles the paint; he loads the brush and the colour is opaque. Look at the confident strokes in the sleeves, the almost cartoonish rendering of the folds in the fabric. The way he has captured the colour of the uniform, that yellowy green, it’s so particular. There is a real charm to this work. Something about the muted tones and the almost childlike directness of the rendering reminds me a little bit of Alfred Wallis, the Cornish fisherman painter. Both artists embrace a kind of naive vision. We can see that both artists are more interested in conveying the essence of their subjects, rather than achieving a photorealistic likeness. This is something that I can definitely relate to in my own work.