Dunkerque c. early 1920s

Frank Myers Boggs made this watercolor painting, Dunkerque. I love how the whole scene is kind of emerging from the fog, and it makes me think about what it must have been like to paint it. I can just imagine Boggs squinting at the light and feeling around for the edges of things. I think the tower is really the star of the show, rising up like a dark monument against the hazy sky. It’s painted with a kind of scribbly energy that gives it a real sense of weight and presence. I think the buildings on either side are really nicely done too, with a kind of broken color that makes them feel like they are shimmering in the light. Painters, like Boggs, and like me, we’re all in conversation with each other, trying to figure out how to capture the world on a flat surface, how to translate what we see and feel into something that other people can connect with.