Stern Board 1935 - 1942

Alton K. Skillin made this 'Stern Board' using what looks like watercolor and graphite. It looks like a process of reduction and refinement. The surface is interesting, it has a kind of matte quality, that makes it look both like a drawing and a sculpture. It isn’t photorealistic, but the artist really has worked to describe the material and texture of wood, that looks like it has been carved and painted. I love the way the artist uses thin washes of color to create shadows and highlights. Look how the hair on the figure has been rendered, almost looks like strokes of thick paint, but it’s not. It gives the work a sense of depth and dimension. It reminds me of the work of Thomas Eakins, another American artist who was interested in realism and portraiture. Like Eakins, Skillin was interested in capturing the likeness of his subjects, but he also seems to have been interested in the process of artmaking itself, the conversation between 2D and 3D, and how a flat image can evoke the tactile quality of carved wood.