Portrait of M. Ehrenburg 1924

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin made this portrait of M. Ehrenburg with oils on canvas, and it looks like it may have been through some trial and error, a real process of building up the face. I feel for Petrov-Vodkin. It’s not easy making portraits. You’re trying to capture something about a person, right? But what? In this painting, there’s a kind of quiet intensity. Her eyes follow you and she is painted with respect. There’s an incredible build-up of flesh tones, one over the other to create an almost sculptural quality. Look how thinly he’s applied the paint in the background, and then how thickly built-up it is on her face. It gives her such presence. Painters are always looking at each other, borrowing ideas, and pushing them further. There is a long tradition of portraiture to which Petrov-Vodkin is responding and I think it's cool how he's made it his own. Ultimately, painting is about expression, about trying to capture something elusive and uncertain.