Military Chapeau 1935 - 1942

James H.C. Vail made this 'Military Chapeau' with watercolor and graphite, and what strikes me is how he’s not trying to give us a photo-perfect representation, but something else entirely. It feels almost like a memory of a hat. The way Vail handles the material is interesting; it’s not about showing off skill, but about getting to the essence of the hat-ness. The paint is thin in places, almost like a stain, and thicker in others, giving it a real sense of depth. Look closely, and you can see the graphite lines underneath, a kind of roadmap of the artist’s thinking. The dark tones and muted palette add to this sense of faded grandeur. It reminds me of Marsden Hartley, in the way it finds beauty in the everyday. It’s this ambiguity that makes art so compelling. There's no right answer, just different ways of seeing.