Figurehead 1935 - 1942

This is Flora Merchant’s ‘Figurehead’, made with some kind of paint, probably watercolour, on paper. There’s a real confidence in the mark-making; the shadows and highlights have been applied in a really direct way. Looking at this, I’m reminded that art is a process of translation. Flora Merchant is not just copying what she sees, she's interpreting it through the language of paint. The limited palette of browns and creams lends a sculptural quality to the piece; the figurehead emerges out of the paper. The brushstrokes are visible but not labored; the paint is thin and translucent allowing the paper to breathe. There's a real sense of immediacy, a feeling that the artist has captured a fleeting moment in time. The upward gaze of the figurehead is particularly compelling. It invites us to look up and imagine what she sees. I think of Paula Modersohn-Becker, another artist who found beauty in everyday subjects. Just like Modersohn-Becker, Merchant reminds us that art is not just about grand gestures, but about the quiet moments of observation that make up a life.