Girl with Feathered Hat 1910

Max Weber made Girl with Feathered Hat, in 1910, using, it seems, watercolor and charcoal on paper. Look at how the charcoal outlines the form, especially around the eyes, giving the portrait a kind of haunting intensity. There’s a real tenderness in Weber’s touch. The watercolor is applied so delicately that the paper's texture remains visible. He lets the medium do its thing. I’m drawn to the wispy charcoal marks that form the feathers. They’re not overworked; instead, they suggest movement and lightness, capturing a fleeting moment. You can almost feel the sway of the feathers. The muted palette—browns, greens, grays—adds to the dreamlike quality, blurring the line between representation and abstraction. Weber was a student of Matisse, and you see that Fauvist influence in the simplified forms and expressive use of color, but he brought a distinctly American sensibility to his work, anticipating artists like Marsden Hartley in his blending of abstraction and figuration. Weber invites us to see the world anew, to embrace the ephemeral beauty of everyday life.