Girl on Cushion 

Rolf Armstrong made this pastel drawing, Girl on Cushion, at some point during his career. Armstrong's technique here involves a layering of soft, powdery pigment onto paper. This is a direct process, where the artist applies color through physical contact with the surface, not unlike the way a make-up artist uses cosmetics. This association is especially apt, given that Armstrong’s fame rested on his ability to conjure an ideal vision of feminine beauty. The gentle gradations of tone and hue required considerable skill, but also served the wider social context of commercial illustration. These images were designed to be reproduced, consumed, and ultimately, to sell an aspirational lifestyle. The labor involved in creating this image, though highly specialized, contributed directly to the mechanisms of consumer culture. Considering the processes and purposes of works like Girl on Cushion encourages us to rethink traditional hierarchies of art, and the economies that support them.