Etude 1960

Petros Malayan made this portrait, “Etude,” most likely in his studio, using oil paint in 1957. Look how the painting feels alive. Notice the brushstrokes and the way Malayan has laid down the paint, thick in places and thin in others. It's like he’s building up the image, one stroke at a time. I can imagine him stepping back from the canvas, squinting, then leaning in again to add another dab of color. The figure emerges, slowly, from the ground of the painting. And the colors! A symphony of muted greens, browns, and blacks. There’s a feeling of quiet intensity to the portrait, a sense of someone caught in a moment of contemplation. The figure’s gaze meets ours, but there’s a hint of something else there, a kind of interiority. Like a dialogue is opening up between artist, sitter, and viewer. It reminds me of the work of other artists like Fairfield Porter, who also had a loose, almost off-hand way of working. I feel a kinship with Malayan, across time and space. We're both engaged in the same conversation, grappling with the same questions about what it means to make a painting, and to see the world through paint.