Window Seat 1937

Here's a little gouache painting by Ferdinand Cartier, probably made sometime in the mid-20th century. It depicts a small bench, a window seat, and you can tell Cartier loved the qualities of gouache, its opacity and matte finish. I can imagine him carefully mixing each hue, building up the form with thin layers. You can see the ochre and amber seat with its delicate lines. Then the soft gradations of the woodwork with its deep burgundy and brown. Each stroke feels deliberate, finding the essential form. It’s a solid piece, like an exercise or color study, but so calm and charming. Maybe he was thinking of Neoclassical art and the work of his predecessors, finding his voice through a careful and methodical process. The longer I look, the more I think about how the painting is of the artist, too. How each mark reflects the artist’s hand and the artist’s intention.