Shoe c. 1936

Hedwig Emanuel made this watercolour, Shoe, on paper, and the process feels so exposed! I love that, because I know what it's like to work and rework a painting. There’s a graphic quality, a set of confident lines and blocks of colour that speak to the artist's hand and eye. But there’s also this vulnerability, especially where the artist sketches in the outlines of two additional shoes, like ghosts, hovering at the top of the composition. The main shoe itself, rendered in shades of black and grey, with a subtle gloss. It's such a strange and beautiful colour, black, somehow absorbing and reflecting light at the same time. The slightly smudged quality of the ink adds to the feeling of immediacy, as if the artist was working quickly, trying to capture the essence of the shoe before it disappeared. The little highlights, the way the light catches the toe, those are great! They remind me of Philip Guston, somehow, with his clunky shapes and tender touch. Art's like a conversation, isn't it?