Small Cravat 1935 - 1942

Dorothy M. Gerhard made this drawing of a ‘Small Cravat’ with pencil on paper. Look at the precision in the drawing – the delicate scalloped edges, the hatched lines. This is someone who really looked, and then really looked again, and again. There’s something so tangible about the layering of marks here, it almost feels like you could reach out and touch the soft lace. The texture is built from the lightest touches of pencil, creating a sense of weightlessness. The colour is barely there, just a hint of warmth suggesting ivory silk. If you look closely, you can see how Gerhard used the side of the pencil to create subtle shading, giving the cravat form and volume. That dense, dark patch, shows where she’s really laboured, and that’s where my eye is drawn. It makes me think of Agnes Martin, in the sense that the bare minimum of something is what's actually so expressive. So, don’t be fooled by its modesty. This small cravat quietly holds its own.